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CIFT  OSf 
A.    F.   Morrison 


THE   USE   OF  LIFE 


THE   USE   OF   LIFE 


BY 

y-ry,   J&An  L<JobQ<^kf    J*J 
THE   RIGHT   HON. 

SIK  JOHN   LUBBOCK,  BAKT.,   M.P 

F.R.S.,    D.C.L.,    LL.D. 


.          ,  ,  . 


MACMILLAN    AND    CO. 

AND    LONDON 
1895 

v4W  rights  reserved 


GIFT  OF* 


COPYRIGHT,  1894, 
BY  MACMILLAN  AND  CO. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped  September,  1894.     Reprinted 
January,  1895. 


XnrfcrotitJ  ^rrss : 

J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith. 
Boston,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  I 
THE  GREAT  QUESTION         .... 

CHAPTER  II 
TACT 23 

CHAPTER  HI 
ON  MONEY  MATTERS 41 

CHAPTER  IV 
RECREATION .        .      62 

CHAPTER  V 
HEALTH .      78 

CHAPTER  VI 
NATIONAL  EDUCATION          .        .  ...      94 


M92347 


vi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VH 

PAGE 

SELF-EDUCATION Ill 

CHAPTER  VIII 
ON  LIBRARIES       ...        .  .        .        .    127 

CHAPTER  IX 
ON  READING          .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .139 

CHAPTER  X 
PATRIOTISM    .        .        .  150 

CHAPTER  XI 
CITIZENSHIP         .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .      168 

CHAPTER  XII 
SOCIAL  LIFE 188 

CHAPTER  XIII 
INDUSTRY 209 

CHAPTER   XIV 
FAITH  228 


CONTENTS  Vll 

CHAPTER  XV 


PAGE 

241 


HOPE      .        .        « 

CHAPTER    XVI 
CHARITY         .        ...     .  ,        •        «        •        •    253 

CHAPTER  XVII 
CHARACTER    .        . 264 

CHAPTER  XVIII 
ON  PEACE  AND  HAPPINESS 281 

CHAPTER  XIX 
RELIGION  297 


CHAPTER   I 

THE    GREAT    QUESTION 

THE  most  important  thing  to  learn  in  life, 
is  how  to  live.  There  is  nothing  men  are  so 
anxious  to  keep  as  life,  and  nothing  they  take 
so  little  pains  to  keep  well. 

This  is  no  simple  matter.  "  Life,"  said 
Hippocrates,  at  the  commencement  of  his 
medical  Aphorisms,  "  Life  is  short,  Art  is 
long,  Opportunity  fleeting,  Experiment  un- 
certain, and  Judgment  difficult." 

Happiness  and  success  in  life  do  not  de- 
pend on  our  circumstances,  but  on  ourselves. 
"More  men  have  ruined  themselves  than  have 
ever  been  destroyed  by  others  :  more  houses 
and  cities  have  perished  at  the  hands  of  man, 
than  storms  or  earthquakes  have  ever  de- 
stroyed." There  are  two  sorts  of  ruin;  one 
is  the  work  of  time,  the  other  of  men. 


2  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

Of ,  all,  irtuiofi/ftitie  ruin  of  Man  is  the  sad- 

de^tj,  (<ajad, -a,  Man's  worst  enemy,  as  Seneca 
saidi,  is  iKe  one,  m  ihe  breast.  "  Many  men/' 
says  La  Bruyere,  "spend  much  of  their  time 
in  making  the  rest  miserable."  In  too  many 
cases  "lusty  blood  in  youth  hath  attempted 
those  things  which  akyng  bones  repented  in 
age,"  l  for  "  what  is  past  and  done,  Clotho 
cannot  weave  again,  nor  Atropos  recall." 2 
Men  love  themselves,  not  wisely  but  too 
well. 

I  am  sometimes  accused  of  being  opti- 
mistic. But  I  have  never  ignored  or  denied 
the  troubles  and  sorrows  of  life :  I  have 
never  said  that  men  are  happy,  only  that 
they  might  be  ;  that  if  they  are  not  so,  the 
fault  is  generally  their  own  :  that  most  of  us 
throw  away  more  happiness  than  we  enjoy. 
This  makes  it  all  the  more  melancholy. 

"  For  of  all  sad  words  of  tongue  or  pen, 
The  saddest  are  these :  it  might  have  been." 3 

In  many  cases  what  we  call  evil  is  good 
misapplied,  or  carried  to  excess.  A  wheel,  or 

1  Lilly.  2  Lucian.  3  Whittier. 


I  THE    GREAT   QUESTION  3 

even  a  cog,  out  of  place  throws  the  whole 
machinery  out  of  gear,  and  if  we  place  our- 
selves out  of  harmony  with  the  constitution 
of  the  universe  we  must  expect  to  suffer  ac- 
cordingly. Courage  in  excess  becomes  fool- 
hardiness,  affection  weakness,  thrift  avarice. 
It  is  proverbial  that  what  is  one  man's  meat 
is  another  man's  poison.  No  one  has  ever 
been  able  to  show  that  any  change  in  the  laws 
of  Nature  would  be  for  the  better.  A  man 
falls  and  breaks  his  leg,  but  no  change  in  the 
law  of  gravity  would  be  an  improvement. 

The  Persians^  attributed  happiness  to  Or- 
muzd,  the  Spirit  of  Good,  and  misfortune  to 
Ahriman,  the  Demon  of  Evil.  But  in  reality 
we  bring  the  troubles  of  life  on  ourselves  by 
our  own  errors  —  errors  in  both  senses,  by 
doing  what  we  know  all  the  time  to  be  wrong; 
but  also,  and  perhaps  almost  as  much,  by  our 
mistakes.  So  far  as  the  first  class  of  errors 
are  concerned,  we  have  implanted  in  us  an 
infallible  guide.  If  we  do  wrong  it  is  with 
our  eyes  open ;  for  if  they  are  not  open,  un- 
less indeed  we  have  wilfully  shut  them,  we 
may  act  unwisely,  but  it  is  not  sin. 


4  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

As  regards  the  second  class  of  errors,  we 
must  trust  to  reason ;  to  that  of  parents,  of 
elders,  of  friends :  to  our  education  and  to 
ourselves.  Indeed  our  education  is  part  of 
ourselves  ;  we  have  all  at  any  rate  one  pupil 
whom  we  must  teach  and  educate. 

What  we  teach  ourselves,  becomes  much 
more  a  part  of  our  being  than  what  we  learn 
from  others.  Education  does  not  end  when 
we  leave  school ;  it  has  indeed  scarcely  begun. 
It  goes  on  through  life.  "  How  well  it  would 
be,"  said  Seneca,  "  if  men  would  but  exercise 
their  brains,  as  they  do  their  bodies,  and  take 
as  much  pains  for  virtue  as  they  do  for 
pleasure." 

Some  races  are  indeed  fatalists.  Every- 
thing in  their  view  is  ordained,  and  what 
will  happen  must  happen,  whether  they  will 
or  no.  Man  they  regard  as  an  automaton, 
the  mere  plaything  of  a  superior  power.  The 
first  point  then  to  be  considered  is  whether 
there  is  or  is  not  a  Science  of  Life.  Can  we 
steer  our  ship  over  the  Ocean  of  Time,  or  are 
we  condemned  to  drift  ?  "  Man  is  man,  and 
master  of  his  fate,"  or  if  he  is  not,  the  fault 


I  THE   GREAT   QUESTION  5 

lies  at  his  own  door.  "  What  you  wish  to  be, 
that  you  are ;  for  such  is  the  force  of  our  will, 
joined  to  the  Supreme,  that  whatever  we 
wish  to  be,  seriously,  and  with  a  true  inten- 
tion, that  we  become."  l 

If  then  we  have  this  power  over  our  destiny 
it  becomes  of  the  utmost  importance  to  ask  our- 
selves what  we  wish  to  be,  and  how  we  can  make 
the  most  of  the  rich  estate  of  Life.  Some  men 
have  a  purpose  in  life,  and  some  have  none .  Our 
first  object  should  be  to  make  the  most  and  best 
of  ourselves.  "  The  aim  of  every  man,"  said 
Humboldt,  shall  be  to  secure  "  the  highest  and 
most  harmonious  development  of  his  powers 
to  a  complete  and  consistent  whole  ;  "  to  quote 
Jean  Paul  Richter  again,  "  to  make  as  much 
out  of  oneself  as  could  be  made  out  of  the 
stuff."  We  must  not,  however,  attempt  this 
merely  with  a  selfish  object,  or  we  are  fore- 
doomed to  failure.  "  No  man's  private  fort- 
une," as  Bacon  said,  "  can  be  an  end  any  way 
worthy  of  his  existence."  The  best  and  great- 
est minds  —  Plato  and  Aristotle,  Buddha  and 
St.  Paul  —  would  never  have  been  content 

1  Jean  Paul  Richter. 


6  THE    USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

to  perfect  themselves  merely  for  them- 
selves. 

I  will  assume  then  that  we  are  to  make  the 
best  of  ourselves  for  the  sake  of  others ;  and 
let  me  at  once  point  out  what  an  interesting 
task  we  have  in  that  case  set  before  us.  The 
well-known  Greek  maxim  yv&Qi  veavrov  points 
to  the  importance  as  well  as  the  difficulty  of 
knowing  ourselves.  Montaigne  says  in  his 
quaint  way,  "  Je  n'ai  vue  monstre  ou  miracle 
au  monde  plus  expres  que  moi  mesme ; "  and 
Sir  T.  Browne,  whose  life  was  as  little  event- 
ful or  exciting  as  a  life  could  well  be,  assures 
us  that  to  himself  it  seemed  "  a  miracle  of 
thirty  years  which  to  relate  were  not  history 
but  a  piece  of  poetry,  and  would  sound  like  a 
fable." 

To  offer  advice  has  proved  a  somewhat 
thankless  task  from  the  days  of  Rehoboam  to 
those  of  Lord  Chesterfield  ;  nor  do  I  forget 
the  sad  fate  of  the  New  Zealand  Convert  of 
whom  his  chief  told  the  missionary  that  "  he 
gave  us  so  much  advice  that  at  last  we  put 
him  to  death."  Yet  those  who  will  not  ac- 
cept "  counsel  at  first  hand  cheap,  will  buy  re- 


i  THE   GREAT   QUESTION  7 

pentance  at  second  hand  dear."  My  object 
then  is  to  make  some  suggestions,  in  their 
own  interest,  to  those  who  wish  to  be,  and  to 
do,  something ;  to  make  the  most  of  them- 
selves and  of  their  lives. 

It  is  sad,  indeed,  to  see  how  man  wastes 
his  opportunities.  How  many  could  be  made 
happy,  with  the  blessings  which  are  recklessly 
wasted  or  thrown  away  ! 

Take  care  that  your  pleasures  are  real  and 
not  imaginary.  We  do  many  things  because 
they  are  called  pleasure,  which  we  should 
hate  if  they  went  by  any  other  name.  Many 
people  think  they  are  having  pleasure,  merely 
because  they  are  doing  nothing  useful.  Others 
seem  to  use  the  word  as  if  it  applied  only  to 
the  senses,  while,  on  the  contrary,  the  pleas- 
ures of  the  mind  are  both  more  exquisite  and 
more  lasting. 

We  neglect,  or  recklessly  injure,  the  only 
body  we  have,  and  on  the  health  of  which 
that  of  the  mind  so  greatly  depends ;  we  do 
not  derive  half  the  enjoyment  we  might  from 
works  of  Art ;  I  wonder  what  proportion  of 

i  Lilly. 


8  THE  USE  OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

our  people  in  London  have  ever  been  to  the 
National  Gallery  ?  we  do  not  train  ourselves 
to  appreciate  the  interests  of  Science ;  how 
many  have  been  to  the  British  Museum  ?  or 
have  trained  themselves  to  appreciate  it ;  we 
do  not  enjoy  the  beauties  of  the  Earth  on 
which  we  live,  or  of  the  Sky  over  our  heads ; 
we  make  perhaps  more  use  of  music,  though 
much  less  than  we  might ;  we  boast  that, 
while  Animals  have  instinct  only,  Man  is  a 
reasoning  Being,  and  yet  how  little  our 
boasted  intellect  has  added  to  the  happiness 
of  Mankind.  It  might  even  be  doubted,  it 
has  indeed  been  questioned  by  Cynics,  whether, 
on  the  whole,  the  possession  of  a  mind  has 
not  been  a  "  damnosa  hereditas,"  a  source  of 
suffering  rather  than  of  enjoyment.  Animals 
do  not  distress  themselves,  and  we  do.  "  Man 
disquieteth  himself  in  a  vain  shadow."  We 
torment  ourselves  with  doubts  and  fears, 
cares  and  anxieties.  Mystery  encompasseth 
us  on  all  sides,  but  we  must  not  be  impatient 
at  it. 

Yet  though  we  need  riot  be  anxious,  we 
must  be  on  our  guard.     We  must  be  watch- 


i  THE   GREAT   QUESTION  9 

ful  even  in  matters  where  we  fancy  ourselves 
least  liable  to  err.  "  There  is,  I  believe," 
says  Lord  Chesterfield,  "more  judgment  re- 
quired for  the  proper  conduct  of  our  virtues, 
than  for  avoiding  their  opposite  vices.  Vice 
in  its  true  light  is  so  deformed,  that  it  shocks 
us  at  first  sight,  and  would  hardly  ever  seduce 
us  if  it  did  not,  at  first,  wear  the  mask  of 
some  virtue."  We  have  all  met  persons, 
who,  with  much  that  is  good,  have  allowed 
themselves  to  be  seduced  into  uncharitableness 
and  hardness  of  heart.  Lord  Palmerston  once 
brought  on  himself  some  theological  criticism, 
by  asserting  that  all  children  were  born  good, 
but  at  any  rate,  it  really  takes  some  trouble 
before  any  one  becomes  altogether  wicked. 

"  In  the  vicious  ways  of  the  world,  it  merci- 
fully f  alleth  out  that  we  become  not  extempore 
wicked,  but  it  taketh  some  time  and  pains  to 
undo  ourselves.  We  fall  not  from  virtue,  like 
Vulcan  from  heaven,  in  a  day."  l 

And  if  we  turn  from  the  individual  to  the 
race,  is  not  the  neglect  of  our  advantages  even 
more  startling?  Mankind  may  still  confess 

1  Sir  T.  Browne. 


10  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

with  Newton,  that  we  are  but  as  children  play- 
ing on  the  seashore,  and  gathering  here  and 
there  a  prettier  shell  or  a  more  delicate  sea- 
weed than  usual,  while  the  great  ocean  of 
truth  lies  all  undiscovered  before  us.  There 
is  no  single  substance,  the  full  uses  and  prop- 
erties of  which  are  yet  known  to  us :  we 
labour  from  morning  to  night ;  and  yet  if  we 
could  but  avail  ourselves  more  fully  of  the 
properties  of  matter  and  the  forces  of  nature, 
it  is  probable  that  an  hour  or  two  would  fully 
supply  all  our  bodily  and  reasonable  wants, 
and  leave  us  ample  time  for  the  cultivation  of 
the  mind  and  the  affections.  Steam  is  not 
even  yet  fully  utilised  :  the  uses  of  electricity 
were  unknown  in  our  childhood,  and  we  are 
only  now  beginning  to  understand  them  ;  the 
force  of  rivers  still  runs  in  the  main  to  waste. 
What  terrible  sufferings  might  have  been 
avoided  if  Anaesthetics  had  been  sooner  dis- 
covered !  It  would  require  a  volume  to  com- 
plete the  illustrations  which  might  be  given. 
No  one  can  doubt  that  a  thousand  other  dis- 
coveries lie  before  us,  even  perhaps  under  our 
very  eyes.  Is  it  not  then  astonishing  that  the 


i  THE   GREAT   QUESTION  11 

so-called  Christian  nations,  waste,  and  worse 
than  waste,  millions  of  money  to  ruin  one 
another,  and  fight  like  beasts  for  territory, 
"  while  the  great  ocean  of  truth  lies  undis- 
covered before  them  "  ? 1 

In  the  last  generation  we  were  content  to  let- 
many  of  our  children  grow  up  without  know- 
ing how  to  read  and  write.  Even  now,  we 
hear  some  persons  deprecate  "  over-education," 
though,  to  do  them  justice,  what  in  most  cases 
they  really  mean,  is  an  education  out  of  rela- 
tion to  the  daily  life.  Some  there  still  are, 
who  grudge  the  expense,  not  perceiving  that 
Ignorance  costs  more  than  Education.  But  if 
our  children  have  now  nearly  all  some  educa- 
tion, it  may  well  be  doubted,  though  I  will  not 
here  enter  into  the  question,  whether  we  have 
yet  adopted  the  most  suitable  system.  I  will 
only  say  that  we  seem  to  have  unduly  neg- 
lected moral  education  in  our  schools,  and  one 
result  has  been  a  very  common  theory,  that  if 
you  break  some  of  the  commandments  you 
will  no  doubt  be  doing  very  wrong,  and  will 
probably  make  others  miserable,  but  you  will, 

1  Newton. 


12  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

at  least  in  this  life,  add  to  your  own  happiness 
and  be  yourself  the  better  off  :  that  self-in- 
dulgence, avarice,  intemperance,  idleness,  and 
other  "  pleasant  vices  "  may  be  unjustifiable, 
but  would  be  for  one's  own  benefit  though  at 
the  expense  of  others ;  that  a  life  of  ease  and 
pleasure  is  what  every  one,  if  he  thought  only 
of  himself,  would  naturally  desire ;  and  that 
to  be  good  and  virtuous,  however  right  and 
noble,  involves  much  self-denial  even  of  inno- 
cent amusements,  and  taken  as  a  whole,  is  a 
life  of  self-sacrifice. 

"  Alas  !  what  boots  it  with  incessant  care 
To  tend  the  homely  slighted  shepherd's  trade, 
And  strictly  meditate  the  thankless  muse  ? 
Were  it  not  better  done,  as  others  use, 
To  sport  with  Amaryllis  in  the  shade, 
Or  with  the  tangles  of  Neaera's  hair  ?  " 1 

The  very  reverse  is  the  truth.  So  far  from 
its  being  the  privilege  of  vice  to  be  without 
restraint  and  confinement,  the  evil  man  is,  on 
the  contrary,  a  slave  to  the  worst  of  masters, 
—  his  own  passions. 

So,  again,  some  young  men  have  an  idea 

1  Milton. 


i  THE   GREAT   QUESTION  13 

that  there  is  something  u  manly"  in  vice. 
But  any  weak  fool  can  be  vicious.  To  be 
virtuous  you  must  be  a  man ;  to  be  virtuous 
is  to  be  truly  free ;  vice  is  the  real  slavery. 
A  particular  course  of  conduct  does  not  de- 
grade because  it  is  wrong ;  it  is  wrong  because 
it  degrades.  If  by  some  extraordinary  sub- 
version of  morals,  wrong  became  right,  it 
would  still  be  fatal  to  happiness  and  peace 
of  mind. 

I  will  not  quote  any  theologian  in  support 
of  the  thesis  that  sin  and  sorrow  are  insepa- 
rable, but  on  such  a  point  will  rather  rely  on 
the  evidence  of  a  consummate  man  of  the 
world,  Lord  Chesterfield,  who  in  one  of  his 
letters  to  his  son  after  some  other  wise  advice, 
concludes  by  saying,  "  Such  are  the  rewards 
that  always  crown  virtue,  and  such  the  char- 
acters that  you  should  imitate,  if  you  would 
be  a  great  and  good  man,  which  is  the  only 
way  to  be  a  happy  one." 

Descartes  embodied  his  rules  for  practical 
life  in  four  maxims :  one  to  submit  himself  to 
the  laws  and  religion  in  which  he  was  brought 
up ;  another,  to  act  on  all  those  occasions 


14  THE   USE    OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

which  call  for  action  promptly  and  according 
to  the  best  of  his  judgment,  and  to  abide  the 
result  without  repining;  the  third,  to  seek 
happiness  in  limiting  the  desires,  rather  than 
in  attempting  to  satisfy  them ;  while  the  last 
is  to  make  the  search  after  truth  the  business 
of  his  life. 

Lilly,  in  his  once  very  popular  Euphues, 
thus  sums  up  his  counsel :  "Go  to  bed  with 
the  Lam.be,  and  rise  with  the  Larke  ;  be  merry, 
but  with  modesty ;  be  sober,  but  not  too  sullen ; 
be  valiant,  but  not  too  venturous;  let  your 
attire  be  comely ;  your  diet  wholesome,  but 
not  excessive ;  thy  pastime  as  the  word  im- 
porteth,  to  pass  the  time  in  honest  recreation ; 
mistrust  no  man  without  cause,  neither  be 
credulous  without  proof ;  be  not  light  to  fol- 
low every  man's  opinion,  neither  obstinate  to 
stand  in  your  own  conceits;  serve  God,  fear 
God,  love  God,  and  God  will  bless  you,  as 
either  your  hearts  can  wish,  or  your  friends 
desire." 

Nor  is  it  only  the  thoughtless,  the  selfish, 
the  wicked,  who  in  the  unscrupulous  pursuit 
of  what  they  suppose  to  be  their  own  interests, 


i  THE   GREAT   QUESTION  15 

make  both  themselves  and  others  miserable. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  many  worthy  people, 
and  many  good  books,  with  no  doubt  the  best 
intentions,  fall  into,  what  is  in  essence,  a  very 
similar  error.  They  have  represented  a  life 
of  sin  as  a  life  of  pleasure ;  they  have  pictured 
virtue  as  self-sacrifice,  austerity  as  religion. 
The  Inquisition  was  of  course  an  extreme 
case ;  many  of  the  Inquisitors  were,  I  doubt 
not,  excellent  people,  kind  and  even  merciful 
in  their  nature,  but  they  entirely  mistook  the 
very  essence  of  Christianity.  Even  in  every- 
day life  we  meet  with  worthy  people  who 
seem  to  think  that  whatever  is  pleasant  must 
be  wrong,  that  the  true  spirit  of  religion  is 
crabbed,  sour,  and  gloomy  ;  that  the  bright, 
sunny,  radiant  nature  which  surrounds  us  is 
an  evil  and  not  a  blessing ;  a  temptation 
devised  by  the  Spirit  of  Evil  and  not  one  of 
the  greatest  delights  showered  on  us  in  such 
profusion  by  the  Author  of  all  Good. 

Cowper  in  two  beautiful  lines  has  told  us 
that 

"  The  path  of  sorrow,  and  that  path  alone, 
Leads  to  the  land  where  sorrow  is  unknown." 


16  THE    USE   OF  LIFE 


CHAP. 


It  is  no  doubt  true  that  we  cannot  go 
through  life  without  sorrow.  Even  apart 
from  the  griefs  which  the  limits  of  life  bring 
on  us  all  inevitably  in  the  loss  of  those  we 
love,  our  existence  here  is  so  complex,  the 
world  is  still  so  young,  we  are  as  yet  so  far 
from  comprehending  the  necessities  of  our 
own  existence,  the  nature  and  properties  of 
the  substances  and  forces  which  surround  us, 
that  we  must  expect  much  sorrow  and  suffer- 
ing. But  Cowper  asserts  that  the  path  of 
sorrow,  and  that  path  "alone,"  leads  to 
heaven,  so  that  a  happy  life  here  must  in- 
evitably involve  misery  hereafter.  That  en- 
tirely erroneous  idea  has  caused  much  anxiety, 
trouble,  and  self-questioning  to  many  anxious 
souls.  Many  a  bright  young  nature  has  suf- 
fered pangs  of  self-reproach,  and  tormented 
itself  merely  on  account  of  its  own  happiness, 
whereas  it  should  be  thankful  for  such  a  gift, 
and  feel  that  it  has  the  inestimable  privilege 
of  brightening  the  path  of  others  who  from 
sorrow  or  ill-health  have  no  longer  in  them- 
selves the  same  well-spring  of  joy  and  sun- 
shine. Cowper  was  very  far  indeed  from 


i  THE   GREAT  QUESTION  17 

being  a  Puritan,  yet  is  not  his  teaching  tinged 
with  the  spirit  of  those,  who,  as  Macaulay 
tells  us,  objected  to  bear-baiting,  not  because 
it  caused  pain  to  the  bear,  but  because  it  gave 
pleasure  to  the  spectators  ? 

Many  people  distress  and  torment  them- 
selves about  the  mystery  of  existence.  Yet 
"  a  good  man  and  a  wise  man  may  at  times 
be  angry  with  the  world,  at  times  grieve  for 
it ;  but  be  sure  no  man  was  ever  discontented 
with  the  world  who  did  his  duty  in  it." 1 

"  The  riddle  of  the  world  is  understood 
Only  by  him  who  feels  that  God  is  good." 2 

There  is  no  duty,  said  Seneca,  "  the  fulfil- 
ment of  which  will  not  make  us  happier,  nor 
any  temptation  for  which  there  is  no  remedy." 
Accuse  not  Nature,  says  Milton, 

"  She  hath  done  her  part,  do  thou  but  thine." 

We  may  be  sure  that  the  Creator  would  not 
have  made  all  Nature  beauty  to  the  eye,  and 
music  to  the  ear,  if  we  had  not  been  meant 
to  enjoy  it  thoroughly,  and  "  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  estimate  what  peace  a  man  brings 

1  Southey.  2  Whittier. 


18  THE   USE   OF  LIFE 


CHAP. 


to  others,  and  what  joy  to  himself  by  manag- 
ing himself  aright." 1 

If  this  age  be,  as  in  many  respects  I  think 
it  is,  the  most  wonderful,  interesting,  and  en- 
lightened the  world  has  ever  seen,  that  is  our 
good  fortune,  not  our  own  doing ;  it  is  some- 
thing, not  to  be  proud  of,  but  to  be  thankful 
for. 

While,  however,  we  should  be  grateful,  and 
enjoy  to  the  full  the  innumerable  blessings  of 
life,  we  cannot  expect  to  have  no  sorrows  or 
anxieties.  Life  has  been  described  by  Wai- 
pole  as  "a  comedy  to  those  who  think,  a 
tragedy  to  those  who  feel."  It  is  indeed  a 
tragedy  at  times  and  a  comedy  very  often, 
but  as  a  rule  it  is  what  we  choose  to  make  it. 
No  evil,  said  Socrates,  "  can  happen  to  a  good 
man,  either  in  Life  or  Death,"  and  certainly 
the  Prophets  of  Hope  have  been  justified 
much  more  often  than  the  Prophets  of  Evil ; 
but  we  are  too  apt  to  let  years  of  happiness 
pass  unnoticed,  while  we  count  every  moment 
of  sorrow  or  pain. 

We  cannot  always  expect  to  succeed  ;  even 

1  Imitation  of  Christ. 


i  THE   GREAT   QUESTION  19 

Nature  fails  at  times.  But  "lift  not  up 
thyself  with  arrogance  in  thy  health  and 
prosperity ;  nor  despair  of  good  in  any 
adversity." 

A  well-known  passage  in  the  Bible  tells  us 
that  "  wide  is  the  gate,  and  broad  is  the  way, 
that  leadeth  to  destruction,  and  many  there 
be  which  go  in  thereat :  because  strait  is  the 
gate,  and  narrow  is  the  way,  which  leadeth 
unto  life,  and  few  there  be  that  find  it." 

But  this  I  think  is  often  misapplied.  We 
are  not  told  that  the  right  way  is  more  rough 
and  painful ;  only  that  it  is  narrow,  and  not 
easy  to  find.  No  doubt  there  is  but  one  right 
road,  with  by-paths  diverging  on  all  sides. 
A  ship  at  sea  has  only  one  true  course ;  all 
the  other  points  of  the  compass  would  lead 
her  away  from  "  the  haven  where  she  would 
be."  But  it  does  not  follow  that  the  right 
course  is  more  rough  or  stormy  than  any 
other. 

Of  course  it  cannot  be  denied  that  what  is 
wrong  or  unwise  is  often  very  pleasant,  some- 
times even  delightful,  for  the  moment.  To 

1  King  Alfred's  trans,  of  Boethius. 


20  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP 

do  so  would  be  absurd ;  it  would  be  to  ques- 
tion the  very  existence  of  temptation.  All  I 
wish  to  show  is,  that  in  yielding  to  such  im- 
pulses we  are  buying  a  momentary  pleasure 
at  the  expense  of  future  sorrow ;  that  we  are 
giving  up  a  great  deal  for  the  sake  of  compar- 
atively trivial  gain ;  that  we  are  selling  our 
birthright,  like  Esau,  for  a  mess  of  pottage ; 
and  "  buying  the  merry  madness  of  an  hour, 
by  the  long  penitence  of  after  years."  In 
fact,  it  is  not  going  too  far  to  say,  and  I  am 
speaking  now  only  of  this  life,  that  if  we  wish 
to  be  happy  we  must  try  to  be  good. 

Prosperity  and  happiness  do  not  by  any 
means  always  go  together,  and  many  people 
are  miserable  who  have,  as  it  would  seem, 
everything  to  make  them  happy.  "  Fortune 
can  give  much,  but  it  must  be  the  mind  that 
makes  that  much  enough."  l 

"  My  mind  to  me  a  Kingdom  is, 
Such  present  joys  therein  I  find." 2 

"It  is  not,"  said  Vauvenargues,  "in  every 
one's  power  to  secure  wealth,  office,  or  hon- 
ours ;  but  every  one  may  be  good,  generous, 

i  Boyle.  2  Dyer. 


i  THE   GREAT   QUESTION  21 

and  wise."  The  true  wealth  does  not  consist 
in  what  we  have,  but  in  what  we  are ;  and 
the  advantages  which  we  enjoy  entail  corre- 
sponding responsibilities."  The  present  state, 
says  St.  Chrysostom,  "  is  merely  a  theatrical 
show,  the  business  of  man  a  play  ;  wealth  and 
poverty,  the  ruler  and  the  ruled,  and  such  like 
things,  are  theatrical  representations.  But 
when  this  day  shall  have  passed,  then  the 
theatre  will  be  closed  and  the  masks  thrown 
off.  Then  each  one  shall  be  tried,  and  his 
works  ;  not  each  one  and  his  wealth,  not  each 
one  and  his  office,  not  each  one  and  his  dig- 
nity, not  each  one  and  his  power,  but  each 
one  and  his  works."  Let  us  hope  that  our 
works  will  stand  the  test. 

And  what  will  the  test  be  ?  Not  how  much 
we  have  done,  but  how  much  we  have  tried. 
Not  whether  we  have  been  what  is  called  suc- 
cessful in  life,  but  whether  we  have  deserved 
to  be  so. 

"  How  happy  he  is  born  and  taught 
That  serveth  not  another's  will ; 
Whose  armour  is  his  honest  thought; 
And  simple  truth  his  utmost  skill."  1 

1  Wotton. 


22  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP,  i 

In  fact,  the  wise  and  virtuous  life,  not  the 
wicked  and  self-indulgent,  will  be  the  truly 
happy  life,  and  sin  is  the  real  self-sacrifice. 

"  My  son,"  says  Solomon,1 

"  My  son,  forget  not  my  law  ; 
But  let  thine  heart  keep  my  commandments  : 
For  length  of  days,  and  long  life, 
And  peace,  shall  they  add  to  thee." 

1  Proverbs. 


CHAPTER  II 

TACT 

FOR  success  in  life  tact  is  more  important 
than  talent,  but  it  is  not  easily  acquired  by 
those  to  whom  it  does  not  come  naturally. 
Still  something  can  be  done  by  considering 
what  others  would  probably  wish. 

Never  lose  a  chance  of  giving  pleasure. 
Be  courteous  to  all.  "  Civility,"  said  Lady 
Montague,  "costs  nothing  and  buys  every- 
thing." It  buys  much,  indeed,  which  no 
money  will  purchase.  Try  then  to  win 
every  one  you  meet.  "Win  their  hearts," 
said  Burleigh  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  "  and  you 
have  all  men's  hearts  and  purses." 

Tact  often  succeeds  where  force  fails.  Lilly 
quotes  the  old  fable  of  the  Sun  and  the  Wind : 
"  It  is  pretily  noted  of  a  contention  betweene 
the  Winde  and  the  Sunne,  who  should 

23 


24  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

have  the  victorye.  A  Gentleman  walking 
abroad,  the  \Yinde  thought  to  blowe  off  his 
cloake,  which  with  great  blastes  and  bluster- 
ings  striuing  to  vnloose  it,  made  it  to  stick 
faster  to  his  backe,  for  the  more  the  Winde 
encreased  the  closer  his  cloake  clapt  to  his 
body :  then  the  Sunne,  shining  with  his  hot 
beams,  began  to  warm  this  gentleman,  who 
waxing  somewhat  faint  in  this  faire  weather, 
did  not  only  put  off  his  cloake  but  his  coate, 
which  the  Wynde  perceiuing,  yeelded  the  con- 
quest to  the  Sunne." 

Always  remember  that  men  are  more  easily 
led  than  driven,  and  that  in  any  case  it  is 
better  to  guide  than  to  coerce. 

"  What  thou  wilt 

Thou  rather  shalt  enforce  it  with  thy  smile, 
Than  hew  to't  with  thy  sword."  l 

It  is  a  good  rule  in  politics,  "  pas  trop 
gouverner." 

Try  to  win,  and  still  more  to  deserve,  the 
confidence  of  those  with  whom  you  are 
brought  in  contact.  Many  a  man  has  owed 


ii  TACT  25 

his  influence  far  more  to  character  than  to 
ability.  Sydney  Smith  used  to  say  of  Francis 
Homer,  who,  without  holding  any  high  office, 
exercised  a  remarkable  personal  influence  in 
the  Councils  of  the  Nation,  that  he  had  the 
Ten  Commandments  stamped  upon  his  coun- 
tenance. 

Try  to  meet  the  wishes  of  others  as  far  as 
you  rightly  and  wisely  can ;  but  do  not  be 
afraid  to  say  "No." 

Anybody  can  say  "  Yes,"  though  it  is  not 
every  one  who  can  say  "  Yes "  pleasantly ; 
but  it  is  far  more  difficult  to  say  "  No." 
Many  a  man  has  been  ruined  because  he 
could  not  do  so.  Plutarch  tells  us  that  the 
inhabitants  of  Asia  Minor  came  to  be  vassals 
only  for  not  having  been  able  to  pronounce 
one  syllable,  which  is  "No."  And  if  in  the 
Conduct  of  Life  it  is  essential  to  say  "No,"  it 
is  scarcely  less  necessary  to  be  able  to  say  it 
pleasantly.  We  ought  always  to  endeavour 
that  everybody  with  whom  we  have  any 
transactions  should  feel  that  it  is  a  pleasure 
to  do  business  with  us  and  should  wish  to 
come  again.  Business  is  a  matter  of  senti- 


26  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

ment  and  feeling  far  more  than  many  sup- 
pose ;  every  one  likes  being  treated  with 
kindness  and  courtesy,  and  a  frank  pleasant 
manner  will  often  clench  a  bargain  more 
effectually  than  a  half  per  cent. 

Almost  any  one  may  make  himself  pleas- 
ant if  he  wishes.  "  The  desire  of  pleasing  is 
at  least  half  the  art  of  doing  it :  " 1  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  no  one  will  please  others  who 
does  not  desire  to  do  so.  If  you  do  riot  ac- 
quire this  great  gift  while  you  are  young, 
you  will  find  it  much  more  difficult  after- 
wards. Many  a  man  has  owed  his  outward 
success  in  life  far  more  to  good  manners  than 
to  any  solid  merit ;  while,  on  the  other  hand, 
many  a  worthy  man,  with  a  good  heart  and 
kind  intentions,  makes  enemies  merely  by 
the  roughness  of  his  manner.  To  be  able 
to  please  is,  moreover,  itself  a  great  pleas- 
ure. Try  it,  and  you  will  not  be  disap- 
pointed. 

Be  wary  and  keep  cool.  A  cool  head  is  as 
necessary  as  a  warm  heart.  In  any  negotia- 
tions, steadiness  and  coolness  are  invaluable  ; 

1  Chesterfield's  Letters. 


ii  TACT  27 

while  they  will  often  carry  you  in  safety 
through  times  of  danger  and  difficulty. 

If  you  come  across  others  less  clever  than 
you  are,  you  have  no  right  to  look  down  on 
them.  There  is  nothing  more  to  be  proud  of 
in  inheriting  great  ability,  than  a  great  estate. 
The  only  credit  in  either  case  is  if  they  are 
used  well.  Moreover,  many  a  man  is  much 
cleverer  than  he  seems.  It  is  far  more  easy  to 
read  books  than  men.  In  this  the  eyes  are  a 
great  guide.  "  When  the  eyes  say  one  thing 
and  the  tongue  another,  a  practised  man 
relies  on  the  language  of  the  first."  1 

Do  not  trust  too  much  to  professions  of 
extreme  goodwill.  Men  do  not  fall  in  love 
with  men,  nor  women  with  women,  at  first 
sight.  If  a  comparative  stranger  protests 
and  promises  too  much,  do  not  place  implicit 
confidence  in  what  he  says.  If  not  insincere, 
he  probably  says  more  than  he  means,  and 
perhaps  wants  something  himself  from  you. 
Do  not  therefore  believe  that  every  one  is  a 
friend,  merely  because  he  professes  to  be  so ; 
nor  assume  too  lightly  that  any  one  is  an 
enemy. 

1  Emerson. 


28  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

We  flatter  ourselves  by  claiming  to  be 
rational  and  intellectual  beings,  but  it  would 
be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  men  are 
always  guided  by  reason.  We  are  strange 
inconsistent  creatures,  and  we  act  quite  as 
often,  perhaps  oftener,  from  prejudice  or  pas- 
sion. The  result  is  that  you  are  more  likely 
to  carry  men  with  you  by  enlisting  their  feel- 
ings, than  by  convincing  their  reason.  This 
applies,  moreover,  to  companies  of  men  even 
more  than  to  individuals. 

Argument  is  always  a  little  dangerous.  It 
often  leads  to  coolness  and  misunderstand- 
ings. You  may  gain  your  argument  and  lose 
your  friend,  which  is  probably  a  bad  bargain. 
If  you  must  argue  admit,  all  you  can,  but 
try  and  show  that  some  point  has  been  over- 
looked. Very  few  people  know  when  they 
have  had  the  worst  of  an  argument,  and  if 
they  do,  they  do  not  like  it.  Moreover,  if 
they  know  they  are  beaten,  it  does  not  fol- 
low that  they  are  convinced.  Indeed  it  is 
perhaps  hardly  going  too  far  to  say  that  it 
is  very  little  use  trying  to  convince  any  one 
by  argument.  State  your  case  as  clearly 


ii  TACT  29 

and  concisely  as  possible,  and  if  you  shake 
his  confidence  in  his  own  opinion  it  is  as 
much  as  you  can  expect.  It  is  the  first  step 
gained. 

Conversation  is  an  art  in  itself,  and  it  is  by 
no  means  those  who  have  most  to  tell  who 
are  the  best  talkers  ;  though  it  is  certainly 
going  too  far  to  say  with  Lord  Chesterfield 
that  "there  are  very  few  Captains  of  Foot 
who  are  not  much  better  company  than  ever 
were  Descartes  or  Sir  Isaac  Newton." 

I  will  not  say  that  it  is  as  difficult  to  be  a 
good  listener  as  a  good  talker,  but  it  is  cer- 
tainly by  no  means  easy,  and  very  nearly  as 
important.  You  must  not  receive  everything 
that  is  said  as  a  critic  or  a  judge,  but  sus- 
pend your  judgment,  and  try  to  enter  into 
the  feelings  of  the  speaker.  If  you  are  kind 
and  sympathetic  your  advice  will  be  often 
sought,  and  you  will  have  the  satisfaction  of 
feeling  that  you  have  been  a  help  and  com- 
fort to  many  in  distress  and  trouble. 

Do  not  expect  too  much  attention  when 
you  are  young.  Sit,  listen,  and  look  on. 
Bystanders  proverbially  see  most  of  the 


30  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP 

game;  and  you  can  notice  what  is  going  on 
just  as  well,  if  not  better,  when  you  are  not 
noticed  yourself.  It  is  almost  as  if  you 
possessed  a  cap  of  invisibility. 

To  save  themselves  the  trouble  of  thinking, 
which  is  to  most  people  very  irksome,  men 
will  often  take  you  at  your  own  valuation. 
"  On  ne  vaut  dans  ce  monde,"  says  La 
Bruyere,  "  que  ce  que  Ton  veut  valoir." 

Do  not  make  enemies  for  yourself ;  you  can 
make  nothing  worse. 

"Answer  not  a  fool  according  to  his  folly, 
Lest  thou  also  be  like  unto  him."  l 

Remember  that  "a  soft  answer  turneth  away 
wrath";  but  even  an  angry  answer  is  less 
foolish  than  a  sneer :  nine  men  out  of  ten 
would  rather  be  abused,  or  even  injured,  than 
laughed  at.  They  will  forget  almost  anything 
sooner  than  being  made  ridiculous. 

"  It  is  pleasanter  to  be  deceived  than  to  be 
undeceived."  Trasilaus,  an  Athenian,  went 
mad,  and  thought  that  all  the  ships  in  the 
Piraeus  belonged  to  him,  but  having  been 
cured  by  Crito,  he  complained  bitterly  that  he 

1  Proverbs. 


n  TACT  81 

had  been  robbed.  It  is  folly,  says  Lord  Ches- 
terfield, "  to  lose  a  friend  for  a  jest :  but,  in  my 
mind,  it  is  not  a  much  less  degree  of  folly,  to 
make  an  enemy  of  an  indifferent  and  neutral 
person  for  the  sake  of  a  bon-mot." 

Do. not  be  too  ready  to  suspect  a  slight,  or 
think  you  are  being  laughed  at — to  say  with 
Scrub  in  the  Strategem,  "  I  am  sure  they 
talked  of  me,  for  they  laughed  consumedly." 
On  the  other  hand,  if  you  are  laughed  at,  try 
to  rise  above  it.  If  you  can  join  in  heartily, 
you  will  turn  the  tables  and  gain  rather  than 
lose.  Every  one  likes  a  man  who  can  enjoy  a 
laugh  at  his  own  expense  —  and  justly  so,  for 
it  shows  good-humour  and  good-sense.  If  you 
laugh  at  yourself,  other  people  will  not  laugh 
at  you. 

Have  the  courage  of  your  opinions.  You 
must  expect  to  be  laughed  at  sometimes,  and 
it  will  do  you  no  harm.  There  is  nothing 
ridiculous  in  seeming  to  be  what  you  really 
are,  but  a  good  deal  in  affecting  to  be  what 
you  are  not.  People  often  distress  themselves, 
get  angry,  and  drift  into  a  coolness  with 
others,  for  some  quite  imaginary  grievance. 


32  THE    USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

Be  frank,  and  yet  reserved.  Do  not  talk 
much  about  yourself ;  neither  of  yourself,  for 
yourself,  nor  against  yourself :  but  let  other 
people  talk  about  themselves,  as  much  as  they 
will.  If  they  do  so  it  is  because  they  like  it, 
and  they  will  think  all  the  better  of  you  for 
listening  to  them.  At  any  rate  do  not  show 
a  man,  unless  it  is  your  duty,  that  you  think 
he  is  a  fool  or  a  blockhead.  If  you  do,  he  has 
good  reason  to  complain.  You  may  be  wrong 
in  your  judgment ;  he  will,  and  with  some 
justice,  form  the  same  opinion  of  you. 

Burke  once  said  that  he  could  not  draw  an 
indictment  against  a  nation,  and  it  is  very 
unwise  as  well  as  unjust  to  attack  any  class 
or  profession.  Individuals  often  forget  and 
forgive,  but  Societies  never  do.  Moreover, 
even  individuals  will  forgive  an  injury  much 
more  readily  than  an  insult.  Nothing  rankles 
so  much  as  being  made  ridiculous.  You 
will  never  gain  your  object  by  putting  people 
out  of  humour,  or  making  them  look  ridicu- 
lous.. 

Goethe  in  his  Conversations  with  JEcker- 
mann  commended  our  countrymen.  Their 


ir  TACT  33 

entrance  and  bearing  in  Society,  he  said, 
were  so  confident  and  quiet  that  one  would 
think  they  were  everywhere  the  masters,  and 
the  whole  world  belonged  to  them.  Ecker- 
mann  replied  that  surely  young  Englishmen 
were  no  cleverer,  better  educated,  or  better 
hearted  than  young  Germans.  "  That  is  not 
the  point,"  said  Goethe;  "their  superiority 
does  not  lie  in  such  things,  neither  does  it  lie 
in  their  birth  and  fortune  :  it  lies  precisely  in 
their  having  the  courage  to  be  what  nature 
made  them.  There  is  no  half  ness  about  them. 
They  are  complete  men.  Sometimes  complete 
fools  also,  that  I  heartily  admit ;  but  even 
that  is  something,  and  has  its  weight." 

In  any  business  or  negotiations,  be  patient. 
Many  a  man  would  rather  you  heard  his  story 
than  granted  his  request :  many  an  opponent 
has  been  tired  out. 

Above  all,  never  lose  your  temper,  and  if 
you  do,  at  any  rate  hold  your  tongue,  and  try 
not  to  show  it. 

"  Cease  from  anger,  and  forsake  wrath  : 
Fret  not  thyself  in  any  wise  to  do  evil."  -1 

1  Psalms. 


34  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

For 

"  A  soft  answer  turneth  away  wrath  : 
But  grievous  words  stir  up  anger."  l 

Never  intrude  where  you  are  not  wanted. 
There  is  plenty  of  room  elsewhere.  "  Have 
I  not  three  kingdoms?"  said  King  James  to 
the  Fly,  "  and  yet  thou  must  needs  fly  in  my 
eye."2 

Some  people  seem  to  have  a  knack  of  saying 
the  wrong  thing,  of  alluding  to  any  subject 
which  revives  sad  memories,  or  rouses  differ- 
ences of  opinion. 

No  branch  of  Science  is  more  useful  than  the 
knowledge  of  Men.  It  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance to  be  able  to  decide  wisely,  not  only 
to  know  whom  you  can  trust,  and  whom  you 
cannot,  but  how  far,  and  in  what,  you  can 
trust  them.  This  is  by  no  means  easy.  It  is 
most  important  to  choose  well  those  who  are 
to  work  with  you,  and  under  you ;  to  put  the 
square  man  in  the  square  hole,  and  the  round 
man  hi  the  round  hole. 

"  If  you  suspect  a  man,  do  not  employ  him  : 
if  you  employ  him,  do  not  suspect  him."  3 

1  Proverbs.         2  Selden's  Table  Talk.         3  Confucius. 


it  TACT  35 

Those  who  trust  are  oftener  right  than  those 
who  mistrust. 

Confidence  should  be  complete,  but  not 
blind.  Merlin  lost  his  life,  wise  as  he  was, 
for  imprudently  yielding  to  Vivien's  appeal 
to  trust  her  "  all  in  all  or  not  at  all." 

Be  always  discreet.  Keep  your  own  coun- 
sel. If  you  do  not  keep  it  for  yourself,  you 
cannot  expect  others  to  keep  it  for  you.  "  The 
mouth  of  a  wise  man  is  in  his  heart ;  the  heart 
of  a  fool  is  in  his  mouth,  for  what  he  know- 
eth  or  thinketh  he  uttereth." 

Use  your  head.  Consult  your  reason.  It 
is  not  infallible,  but  you  will  be  less  likely  to 
err  if  you  do  so. 

Speech  is,  or  ought  to  be  silvern,  but  silence 
is  golden. 

Many  people  talk,  not  because  they  have 
anything  to  say,  but  for  the  mere  love  of  talk- 
ing. Talking  should  be  an  exercise  of  the 
brain,  rather  than  of  the  tongue.  Talkative- 
ness, the  love  of  talking  for  talk  ing's  sake,  is 
almost  fatal  to  success.  Men  are  "  plainly 
hurried  on,  in  the  heat  of  their  talk,  to  say 
quite  different  things  from  what  they  first 


36  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

intended,  and  which  they  afterwards  wish 
unsaid :  or  improper  things,  which  they  had 
no  other  end  in  saying,  but  only  to  find  em- 
ployment to  their  tongue. 

And  this  unrestrained  volubility  and  wanton- 
ness in  speech  is  the  occasion  of  numberless 
evils  and  vexations  in  life.  It  begets  resent- 
ment in  him  who  is  the  subject  of  it ;  sows  the 
seed  of  strife  and  dissension  amongst  others  ; 
and  inflames  little  disgusts  and  offences,  which, 
if  let  alone,  would  wear  away  of  themselves."  1 
"  C'est  une  grande  misere,"  says  La  Bru- 
yere,  "  que  de  n'avoir  pas  assez  d'esprit  pour 
bien  parler,  ni  assez  de  jugement  pour  se 
taire."  Plutarch  tells  a  story  of  Demaratus, 
that  being  asked  in  a  certain  assembly 
whether  he  held  his  tongue  because  he  was  a 
fool,  or  for  want  of  words,  he  replied,  "  A  fool 
cannot  hold  his  tongue."  "  Seest  thou,"  said 
Solomon, 

"  Seest  thou  a  man  that  is  hasty  in  his  words  ? 
There  is  more  hope  of  a  fool  than  of  him." 2 

1  Dr.  Butler's  Sermons.  2  Proverbs  xxix.  20. 


ii  TACT  37 

Never  try  to  show  your  own  superiority : 
few  things  annoy  people  more  than  being 
made  to  feel  small. 

Do  not  be  too  positive  in  your  statements. 
You  may  be  wrong,  however  sure  you  feel. 
Memory  plays  us  curious  tricks,  and  both  ears 
and  eyes  are  sometimes  deceived.  Our  pre- 
judices, even  the  most  cherished,  may  have  no 
secure  foundation.  Moreover,  even  if  you  are 
right,  you  will  lose  nothing  by  disclaiming 
too  great  certainty. 

In  action,  again,  never  make  too  sure,  and 
never  throw  away  a  chance.  "  There's  many 
a  slip  'twixt  the  cup  and  the  lip." 

It  has  been  said  that  everything  comes  to 
those  who  know  how  to  wait ;  and  when  the 
opportunity  does  come,  seize  it. 

"He  that  wills  not,  when  he  may; 
When  he  will,  he  shall  have  nay." 

If  you  once  let  your  opportunity  go,  you 
may  never  have  another. 

"  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
Which  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune : 
Omitted,  all  the  voyage  of  their  life 
Is  bound  in  shallows  and  in  miseries. 


38  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

On  such  a  full  sea  are  we  now  afloat : 

And  we  must  take  the  current  when  it  serves, 

Or  lose  our  venture." l 

Be  cautious,  but  not  over-cautious ;  do  not 
be  too  much  afraid  of  making  a  mistake ;  "  a 
man  who  never  makes  a  mistake,  will  make 
nothing." 

Always  dress  neatly  :  we  must  dress,  there- 
fore we  should  do  it  well,  though  not  too 
well ;  not  extravagantly,  either  in  time  or 
money,  but  taking  care  to  have  good  mate- 
rials. It  is  astonishing  how  much  people 
judge  by  dress.  Of  those  you  come  across, 
many  go  mainly  by  appearances  in  any  case, 
and  many  more  have  in  your  case  nothing 
but  appearances  to  go  by.  The  eyes  and  ears 
open  the  heart,  and  a  hundred  people  will  see, 
for  one  who  will  know  you.  Moreover,  if 
you  are  careless  and  untidy  about  yourself,  it 
is  a  fair,  though  not  absolute,  conclusion  that 
you  will  be  careless  about  other  things  also. 

When  you  are  in  Society  study  those  who 
have  the  best  and  pleasantest  manners. 
"Manner,"  says  the  old  proverb  with  much 

1  Shakespeare. 


ii  TACT  39 

truth,  if  with  some  exaggeration,  "maketh 
Man,"  and  "  a  pleasing  figure  is  a  perpetual 
letter  of  recommendation."1  "Merit  and 
knowledge  will  not  gain  hearts,  though  they 
will  secure  them  when  gained.  Engage  the 
eyes  by  your  address,  air,  and  motions  ;  soothe 
the  ears  by  the  elegance  and  harmony  of  your 
diction ;  and  the  heart  will  certainly  (I 
should  rather  say  probably)  follow." :  Every 
one  has  eyes  and  ears,  but  few  have  a  sound 
judgment.  The  world  is  a  stage.  We  are 
all  players,  and  every  one  knows  how  much 
the  success  of  a  piece  depends  upon  the  way 
it  is  acted. 

Lord  Chesterfield,  speaking  of  his  son,  says, 
"They  tell  me  he  is  loved  wherever  he  is 
known,  and  I  am  very  glad  of  it ;  but  I  would 
have  him  be  liked  before  he  is  known,  and 
loved  afterwards.  .  .  .  You  know  very  little  of 
the  nature  of  mankind,  if  you  take  those  things 
to  be  of  little  consequence ;  one  cannot  be  too 
attentive  to  them ;  it  is  they  that  always  en- 
gage the  heart,  of  which  the  understanding  is 
commonly  the  bubble." 

1  Bacon.  2  Lord  Chesterfield. 


40  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP,  n 

The  Graces  help  a  man  in  life  almost  as 
much  as  the  Muses.  We  all  know  that  "  one 
man  may  steal  a  horse,  while  another  may 
not  look  over  a  hedge  "  ;  and  why  ?  because 
the  one  will  do  it  pleasantly,  the  other 
disagreeably.  Horace  tells  us  that  even 
Youth  and  Mercury,  the  God  of  Eloquence 
and  of  the  Arts,  were  powerless  without  the 
Graces. 


CHAPTER   III 

ON    MONEY    MATTERS 

ECONOMY  is  not,  I  fear,  sufficiently  appre- 
ciated in  England.  Our  countrymen  work 
hard  and  make  good  incomes,  but  other 
nations  excel  us  in  thrift.  "  It's  what  thee'll 
spend,  my  son,"  said  a  wise  old  Quaker,  "not 
what  thee'll  make,  which  will  decide  whether 
thee's  to  be  rich  or  not."  The  very  word 
"thrift"  tells  its  own  tale,  being  derived 
from  the  word  "  to  thrive." 

Apart  from  any  question  of  being  rich,  it 
is  wise  and  right  to  save,  so  as  to  provide  for 
future  needs.  It  is  a  mean  proverb  that, 
"  When  poverty  comes  in  at  the  door,  love 
flies  out  at  the  window ; "  but  it  would  be 
sad  to  see  wife  or  children  in  want  of  food, 
or  clothing,  or  medical  attendance,  or  rest 
and  change  of  air,  and  to  feel  that  if  you 

41 


42  THE    USE   OF   LIFE 


CHAP. 


had  been  reasonably  industrious,  or  had  but 
denied  yourself  some,  innocent  perhaps,  but 
unnecessary  indulgence,  you  might  have 
saved  them  from  suffering  and  anxiety. 
Economy  for  the  mere  sake  of  money  is  no 
doubt  mean,  but  economy  for  the  sake  of 
independence  is  right  and  manly. 

Always  keep  accounts,  and  keep  them 
carefully.  I  do  not  mean  that  it  is  worth 
while  to  put  down  every  detail,  but  keep 
them  so  that  you  may  know  how  the  money 
goes  and  how  much  things  cost  you.  No 
man  who  knows  what  his  income  is,  and 
what  he  is  spending,  will  run  into  extrava- 
gance. Spendthrifts  begin  by  shutting  their 
eyes  to  what  they  are  doing.  No  one  would 
face  the  precipice  of  ruin  with  his  eyes  open. 

Whatever  you  do  then,  live  within  your 
income.  Save  something,  however  little, 
every  year.  But  above  all  things,  do  not 
run  into  debt.  If  a  man,  says  Dickens  (and 
though  he  puts  the  advice  into  the  mouth  of 
Mr.  Micawber,  it  is  none  the  less  wise),  has 
an  annual  income  "  of  twenty  pounds,  annual 
expenditure,  nineteen,  nineteen,  six,  result 


in  ON  MONEY   MATTERS  43 

happiness.  Annual  income,  twenty  pounds, 
annual  expenditure,  twenty  pounds,  nought 
and  six,  result  misery."  l  And  yet  the  differ- 
ence is  only  a  shilling. 

It  is  not  too  strong  to  say  that  debt  is 
slavery.  "  Who  goes  a  borrowing  goes  a 
sorrowing."  Many  things  in  life  are  dis- 
agreeable. Horace  Greeley,  a  man  of  great 
experience,  well  and  truly  said,  "  Hunger, 
cold,  rags,  hard  work,  contempt,  suspicion, 
unjust  reproaches,  are  disagreeable ;  but  debt 
is  infinitely  worse  than  them  all.  Never  run 
into  debt.  If  you  have  but  fifty  cents  and 
can  get  no  more  a  week,  buy  a  peck  of  corn, 
parch  it,  and  live  on  it,  rather  than  owe  any 
man  a  dollar." 

The  world,  said  Cobden,  "  has  always  been 
divided  into  two  classes,  —  those  who  have 
saved,  and  those  who  have  spent  —  the 
thrifty  and  the  extravagant.  The  building 
of  all  the  houses,  the  mills,  the  bridges,  and 
the  ships,  and  the  accomplishment  of  all 
other  great  works  which  have  rendered  man 
civilised  and  happy,  have  been  done  by  the 

1  David  Copperfield. 


44  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

savers,  the  thrifty ;  and  those  who  have 
wasted  their  resources  have  always  been 
their  slaves.  It  has  been  the  law  of  nature 
and  of  Providence  that  this  should  be  so  ; 
and  I  were  an  impostor  if  I  promised  any 
class  that  they  should  advance  themselves 
if  they  were  improvident,  thoughtless,  and 
idle." 

The  Temple  of  Artemis  at  Ephesus,  said 
Plutarch,  "  gives  asylum  and  security  from 
their  creditors  to  debtors,  when  they  take 
refuge  in  it ;  but  the  asylum  and  sanctuary 
of  frugality  is  everywhere  open  to  the  sober- 
minded,  affording  them  joyful  and  honour- 
able and  ample  space  for  much  ease."  Do 
not  borrow  then,  and  do  not  lend,  except  of 
course  in  the  way  of  business.  You  will 
neither  get  your  money  nor  thanks,  for 
debtors  always  think  themselves  injured. 
Give  then  what  you  can  afford  liberally,  but 
do  not  expect  it  back. 

If  money  comes  in  slowly  at  first,  do  not 
be  discouraged  ;  it  is  an  ill  lane  which  has 
no  turning ;  and  if  it  happens  that  money  at 
first  comes  easily,  do  not  spend  it  all,  but  lay 


Ill 


OX   MONEY    MATTERS  45 


up  some  for  a  rainy  dayy  remembering  that 
good  lanes  have  their  turnings  as  well  as  bad 
ones ;  and  that  as  time  goes  on  you  will 
probably  have  more  and  more  demands  on 
your  purse.  Many  a  man  in  business  has 
been  ruined  by  being  too  fortunate  at  first. 

Do  not  be  in  a  hurry  to  get  rich.  If,  says 
Ruskin,  "  you  do  not  let  the  price  command 
the  picture,  in  time  the  picture  will  command 
the  price." 

Do  not  make  yourself  anxious  about  money. 
Though  few  can  expect  to  make  large  fort- 
unes, any  one  with  industry  and  economy 
may  make  a  livelihood.  We  often  hear  of 
riches  not  honestly  come  by,  but  the  fact  is, 
that  poverty  is  seldom  honestly  come  by 
either.  The  poor  are  not  those  who  have 
little,  but  those  who  want  much. 

Sir  James  Paget  in  one  of  his  interesting 
addresses  gave  statistics  as  regards  his  own 
pupils,  whose  careers  he  had  followed.  Out  of 
1000.  200  left  the  profession,  came  into  fort- 
unes, or  died  early.  Of  the  remaining  800, 
600  attained  fair,  some  of  them  considerable 
success.  Out  of  the  whole  number  only  56 


46  THE    USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

entirely  failed.  Of  these  15  never  passed  the 
examinations,  10  broke  down  through  intem- 
perance or  dissipation,  and  out  of  the  whole 
1000  only  25  failed  through  causes  apparently 
beyond  their  control.  You  may  rest  assured 
that  in  other  walks  of  life,  as  in  medicine,  if 
you  make  yourself  useful,  you  will  be  used. 

In  fact,  no  one  need  have  much  anxiety 
about  the  real  necessaries  of  life.  Nature 
needs  little  and  gives  much.  Luxuries,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  very  expensive,  and,  as 
Franklin  said,  "  what  keeps  one  vice  would 
bring  up  two  children." 

Remember  that,  as  the  Duke  of  Wellington 
wisely  said,  high  interest  means  bad  security. 

Do  not  put  too  many  eggs  in  one  basket. 
However  well  you  may  be  advised,  however 
carefully  you  may  have  looked  into  the  mat- 
ter, something  may  occur  to  upset  all  calcula- 
tions. The  wisest  merchants  and  bankers  make 
mistakes.  All  that  any  sensible  man  of  busi- 
ness expects  is  to  be  generally  right.  We  learn 
in  our  earliest  years  that  two  and  two  make 
four ;  but  they  also  make  twenty-two.  As 
an  arithmetical  expression  it  is  perfectly  true 


in  ON   MONEY   MATTERS  47 

that  if  we  add  two  and  two  we  get  four, 
but  in  the  conduct  of  life  it  is  a  delusion,  and 
an  injudicious  application  of  the  lesson  has 
wrecked  many  a  promising  career. 

Take  things  quietly.  We  are  told  that 
Lord  Brougham  never  could  sit  still  enough 
to  be  photographed,  and  always  came  out  a 
blur. 

Bagehot  used  to  say  that  in  business  many 
men  were  ruined  because  they  could  not  sit 
still  in  a  room. 

Every  one  is  in  one  sense  a  man  of  busi- 
ness whether  he  wishes  it  or  no.  We  have 
all  duties  to  perform,  a  house  to  manage,  our 
expenses  to  regulate,  and  small  matters  are 
sometimes  as  difficult  and  troublesome  as 
large  ones. 

Success  in  business  depends  happily  much 
more  on  common  sense,  care  and  attention, 
than  on  genius.  "  Keep  your  shop,"  says  an 
old-fashioned  proverb,  "  and  your  shop  will 
keep  you."  Xenophon  tells  a  story  to  the 
same  effect :  "  The  King  of  Persia,  wishing 
to  have  a  fine  horse  fattened  as  soon  as 
possible,  asked  one  of  them  who  were  sup- 


48  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

posed  to  know  most  about  such  subjects,  what 
would  fatten  a  horse  soonest,  and  was  told 
6  his  master's  eye.' ' 

It  is  very  important  to  cultivate  business- 
like habits.  An  eminent  friend  of  mine 
assured  me  not  long  ago  that  when  he 
thought  over  the  many  cases  he  had  known 
of  men,  even  of  good  ability  and  high  charac- 
ter, who  had  been  unsuccessful  in  life,  by  far 
the  most  frequent  cause  of  failure  was  that 
they  were  dilatory,  unpunctual,  unable  to 
work  cordially  with  others,  obstinate  in  small 
things,  and,  in  fact,  what  we  call  unbusiness- 
like. 

In  small  matters  as  in  great,  order  and 
method  are  very  important.  The  right  thing 
in  the  right  place,  is  a  golden  rule,  and  a 
little  trouble  in  putting  things  away  when 
you  have  done  with  them  will  save  a  great 
deal  when  you  want  them  again. 

Disorder,  says  Xenophon,  "  seems  to  me 
something  like  as  if  an  husbandman  should 
throw  into  his  granary  barley  and  wheat  and 
peas  together,  and  then,  when  he  wants  bar- 
ley bread  or  wheaten  bread,  or  pea  soup, 


Ill 


ON   MONEY   MATTERS  49 


should  have  to  abstract  them  grain  by  grain, 
instead  of  having  them  separately  laid  up 
for  his  use."  l 

He  quotes  the  case  of  a  ship  in  illustration. 
"  For  there  is  no  time,  when  heaven  sends  a 
storm  over  the  sea,  either  to  seek  for  what 
may  be  wanting,  or  to  hand  out  what  may  be 
difficult  to  use ;  for  the  gods  threaten  and 
punish  the  negligent,  and  if  they  but  forbear 
from  destroying  those  who  do  nothing  wrong, 
we  must  be  very  well  content ;  while  if  they 
preserve  even  those  that  attend  to  everything 
quite  properly,  much  gratitude  is  due  to 
them."  2  Keep  everything  then  in  its  proper 
place. 

Philosophers,  not  all  of  course,  but  many, 
from  Aristotle  to  Carlyle,  have  decried  those 
engaged  in  trade  and  commerce;  or  rather 
perhaps  I  should  say  Trade  and  Commerce 
themselves,  as  mean  and  almost  degrading. 
Plato  excluded  all  traders  from  citizenship  in 
his  Republic.  Such  a  degrading  occupation 
was  to  be  left  to  foreigners,  if  any  chose  to 
engage  in  it.  Trade  and  Commerce,  however, 

1  Xenophon's  Economics,  p.  105.  2  P.  106. 


50  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

being  necessarily  the  occupations  of  many,  it 
would  indeed  be  grievous  if  their  influence  on 
the  character  was  necessarily  injurious  and 
incompatible  with  intellectual  culture.  But 
happily  it  is  not  so.  Of  course  business  men 
can  only  give  their  spare  time  to  other  pur- 
suits, but,  taking  illustrations  from  Science 
and  Literature  only,  I  might  mention  Nas- 
myth,  the  astronomer  and  manufacturer ; 
Grote,  banker  and  historian  ;  Sir  J.  Evans, 
papermaker  and  President  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries,  as  well  as  Treasurer  of  the  Royal 
Society ;  Prestwich,  merchant,  and  afterwards 
Professor  of  Geology  at  Oxford ;  Rogers, 
banker  and  poet ;  Praed,  banker  and  poet ; 
may  I  say  my  own  father,  banker  and  mathe- 
matician, for  many  years  Treasurer  and  Vice- 
President  of  the  Royal  Society ;  and  many 
others. 

Carlyle  objected  vehemently  to  the  princi- 
ple of  buying  in  the  cheapest  and  selling  in 
the  dearest  market.  He  suggests  that  in 
some  unexplained  manner  we  should  fix  "  our 
minimum  of  cotton  prices,"  and  I  suppose  of 
others  ;  that  we  should  say,  "  We  care  not, 


Ill 


ON   MONEY    MATTERS  51 


for  the  present,  to  make  cotton  any  cheaper  ; " 
that  we  should  not  under-sell  other  nations. 
u  Brothers,  we  will  cease  to  under-sell  them ; 
we  will  be  content  to  equal-sell  them."  This 
is  not  only  impracticable,  but  it  is  unsound. 
If  we  sell  less  cotton  goods,  we  must  buy  less 
food.  Carlyle  admits  that  more  could  be  sold 
at  a  lower  price,  so  that  there  would  be  hu- 
man beings  in  need  of  cotton  clothes,  but 
unable  to  afford  the  price  agreed  on.  We 
could  afford  to  take  less,  and  yet  he  would 
have  us  refuse  to  do  so,  and  to  that  extent 
deprive  others  of  their  clothing,  and  our  own 
people  of  food.  It  is  the  very  basis  of  com- 
merce to  give  what  you  can  produce  cheaply 
in  exchange  for  what  you  cannot.  To  buy  in 
the  cheapest  and  sell  in  the  dearest  market  is 
not  only  then  the  necessary  rule  of  trade,  but 
is  best  for  all ;  because  in  doing  so  you  buy 
from  those  who  most  require  to  sell  their 
produce,  and  sell  to  those  who  are  most  in 
need  of  your  goods.  Any  other  course  would 
approximate  to  the  proverbially  useless  pro- 
ceeding of  carrying  coals  to  Newcastle. 

Many  of  the  greatest  and  happiest  and  best 


52  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAI-. 

of  men  have  been  very  poor.  Wordsworth 
and  his  sister  lived  for  many  years  on  30s.  a 
week,  and,  I  believe,  it  was  one  of  the  hap- 
piest periods  of  his  life. 

If  it  is  not  your  lot  to  be  rich,  association 
and  affection  may  make  some  homely  spot, 
some  small  cottage,  some  sweet  face,  the 
whole  world  to  you. 

It  is,  indeed,  astonishing  how  many  great 
men  have  been  poor,  even  if  we  cannot  go  so 
far  as  to  say  with  Mahomet,  that  "  God  never 
took  a  prophet  save  from  the  sheepfolds." 

It  is  a  common  error  to  exaggerate  what 
money  can  do  for  us. 

Is  it  in  the  matter  of  food  ? 

"  If  a  rich  man  wishes  to  be  healthy,  he  must 
live  like  a  poor  one."  l  What  can  we  have 
better  for  breakfast  than  tea  or  coffee,  bread 
and  butter,  with  perhaps  an  egg  or  a  herring, 
or  some  honey  ?  What  is  a  better  lunch  than 
bread  and  cheese  and  a  glass  of  beer  ?  A 
plain  dinner  well  cooked,  and  with  a  good 
appetite,  will  give  as  much  pleasure  as  a  Lord 
Mayor's  feast.  The  wholesomest  and  best 

1  Sir  R.  Temple. 


Ill 


ON   MONEY   MATTERS  53 


things  to  eat  cost  comparatively  little  while 
they  are  in  season,  and  out  of  season  have 
little  flavour.  An  egg  is  generally  as  good 
as  a  feast,  and  sometimes  better. 

Is  it  in  books  ?  A  man  must  be  poor  in- 
deed if  he  cannot  buy  as  much  as  he  can 
read.  The  best  books  —  the  Bible,  Shake- 
speare, Milton,  etc.  —  can  be  bought  now,  as 
the  saying  is,  "for  a  song." 

Will  money  buy  health,  genius,  friends, 
beauty,  or  a  happy  home  ? 

The  Duke  of  Tse,  says  Confucius,  "was 
immensely  rich,  and  nobody  loved  him ; 
Pei-ke  died  of  hunger,  and  even  now  the 
people  mourn  him." 

Above  all, 

"  Can  wealth  give  happiness  ?     Look  around,  and  see 
What  gay  distress,  what  splendid  misery ; 
I  envy  none  their  pageantry  and  show, 
I  envy  none  the  gilding  of  their  woe." 1 

Men  in  great  fortunes,  says  Bacon,  are 
strangers  to  themselves,  and  while  they  are 
"  in  the  puzzle  of  business,  have  no  time  to  at- 
tend to  their  health,  either  of  mind  or  body." 

1  Young. 


54  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

All  fetters  are  bad,  even  if  they  be  made  of 
gold.  Money  is  110  doubt  a  source  of  much 
anxiety.  It  has  its  cares  as  well  as  poverty, 
and  in  the  case  of  many  rich  men,  they  are 
really  the  slaves,  and  not  the  masters,  of 
money.  Riches  in  many  cases,  as  Bishop 
Wilson  said,  "  become  not  only  the  care,  but 
the  torment,  of  those  that  possess  them." 

Many  a  man,  no  doubt,  has  been  ruined  by 
money,  and  on  the  whole,  probably  the  rich 
are  more  anxious  about  money  matters  than 
the  poor.  To  none  but  the  wise  can  wealth 
bring  happiness.  The  man  who  is  too  eager 
to  be  rich  will  always  be  a  poor  fellow.  "  It 
is  probably  much  happier,"  says  Ruskin,  "to 
live  in  a  small  house,  and  have  Warwick 
Castle  to  be  astonished  at,  than  to  live  in 
Warwick  Castle,  and  have  nothing  to  be 
astonished  at." 

To  enjoy  riches,  do  not  set  your  heart  upon 
them.  Enough,  said  Sadi,  "  will  carry  you, 
more  you  must  yourself  carry." 

"  I  ride  not  on  a  camel,  but  am  free  from  load  and 

trammel, 

To  no  subject  am  I  lord,  but  1  fear  no  monarch's 
word ; 


in  ON   MONEY   MATTERS  55 

I  think   not  of  the   morrow,  nor  recall  the  gone-by 

sorrow, 
Thus  I  breathe  exempt  from  strife,  and  thus  moves 

my  tranquil  life."  l 

"  It  is  a  miserable  state  of  mind,"  said 
Bacon,  "  to  have  few  things  to  wish  for,  and 
many  to  fear." 

"  If  thou  art  rich,  thou'rt  poor  : 
For  like  an  ass,  whose  backe  with  ingots  bound, 
Thou  bear'st  thy  heavy  riches  but  a  journey, 
And  death  unloadeth  thee." 2 

Why  then? 

"  Why  lose  we  life  in  anxious  cares 
To  lay  in  hoards  for  future  years  ? 
Can  these,  when  tortured  by  disease, 
Cheer  our  sick  hearts,  or  purchase  ease  ? 
Can  these  prolong  one  gasp  of  breath, 
Or  calm  the  troubled  hour  of  death  ?  "  3 

Wealth  is  a  great  temptation  to  avarice  ; 
as  we  learnt  long  ago  at  school :  "  Crescit 
amor  nummi,  quantum  ipsa  pecunia  crescit ;  " 
or,  as  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  wittily  puts 
it- 

i  Sadi,  2  Shakespeare.  3  Gay. 


56  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

"  I  care  not  much  for  gold  or  land : 
Give  me  a  mortgage  here  and  there, 

Some  good  bank-stock  —  some  note  of  hand, 
Or  trifling  railway  share  : 

I  only  ask  that  Fortune  send 

A  little  more  than  I  can  spend." 

The  poor  man,  said  Seneca,  "  wanteth  many 
things,  but  the  covetous  man  wanteth  every- 
thing." 

It  has  been  satirically  observed  that  there 
would  be  more  good  Samaritans,  if  it  were 
not  for  the  twopence  and  the  oil. 

A  continual  and  restless  search  after  Fort- 
une, says  Bacon,  "takes  up  too  much  of 
then-  time,  who  have  nobler  things  to  ob- 
serve ; "  l  for  wealth  is  only  good  as  far  as  it 
adds  to  life,  not  life  as  it  adds  to  wealth. 
Poverty  has  been  called  the  scholar's  bride, 
and  "he  can  well  spare  his  mule  and  span- 
niers  who  has  a  winged  chariot  instead."  2 

Our  very  expressions  about  money  are 
significant.  We  constantly  hear  of  a  man 
making  money,  or  made  of  money,  or  rolling 
in  money,  never  of  "enjoying"  money,  and 
those  indeed  who  make  money  rarely  make  it 

1  Bacon.  2  Emerson. 


nr  ON   MONEY   MATTERS  57 

for  themselves.  "  He  heapeth  up  riches,  and 
cannot  tell  who  shall  gather  them." 

In  Xenophon's  banquet,  Charmides  main- 
tains that  Poverty  is  better  than  riches, 
for:  — 

66  It  is  acknowledged  that  to  feel  secure  is 
better  than  to  be  in  fear ;  that  to  be  free  is 
better  than  to  be  a  slave ;  to  be  trusted  by 
one's  country  better  than  to  be  distrusted ; 
but,  when  I  was  a  rich  man  in  this  city,  I  was 
afraid,  in  the  first  place,  lest  somebody  should 
break  into  my  house,  seize  upon  my  money, 
or  do  me  personal  harm.  .  .  .  Now  I  can  lay 
myself  down  to  sleep.  I  am  not  called  upon 
to  serve  in  the  parish ;  I  am  not  rich  enough 
to  be  suspected  by  the  Government ;  I  am 
at  liberty  to  leave  the  city,  or  to  stay  in  it 
at  pleasure.  When  I  was  rich,  people  re- 
proached me  for  associating  with  Socrates 
and  other  low  philosophers.  Now  I  can 
choose  my  friends ;  for,  since  I  am  grown 
poor,  nobody  pays  any  further  attention  to 
me.  When  I  had  much,  I  was  always  un- 
happy, because  I  was  always  losing  some- 
thing ;  now  I  am  grown  poor,  I  lose  nothing, 


58  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

for  I  have  nothing  to  lose;  and  yet  I  am 
constantly  consoled  and  cheered  with  the 
hopes  of  getting  something." 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  what 
Charmides  said,  but  it  was  not  the  whole 
truth.  Moreover,  Charmides,  when  he  said 
it,  had  just  enjoyed  a  good  dinner,  enlivened 
by  music. 

If  wisely  used  money  may  do  much.  Gold 
is  a  power.  "  Money,"  said  a  witty  French- 
man, "is  the  Sovereign  of  Sovereigns."1 
Money  gives  us  the  means  of  acquiring  what 
we  wish.  If  fresh  air,  a  good  house,  books, 
music,  etc.,  are  enjoyable,  money  will  buy 
them ;  if  leisure  is  an  advantage,  money  en- 
ables us  to  take  it ;  if  seeing  the  world  is 
delightful,  it  will  pay  for  our  journeys ;  if  to 
help  our  friends,  to  relieve  those  who  are  in 
distress,  is  a  privilege,  money  confers  on  us 
this  great  blessing. 

"Keep  it  then,"  said  Swift,  "in  your  head, 
but  not  in  your  heart." 

The  miser  is  the  man  who  loves  money  for 
its  own  sake  ;  who  carries  economy  to  excess ; 

1  Rivarol. 


in  ON   MONEY    MATTERS  59 

who  is  a  mere  covetous  machine.  One  lesson 
we  have  to  learn  in  life  is  to  keep  ourselves 
free  from  mean  and  petty  cares,  and  love  of 
money  is  one  of  the  meanest. 

The  great  thing  is  to  use  wealth  wisely. 
"  There  is  that  scattereth,  and  yet  increaseth," 
says  Solomon;  "and  there  is  that  withholdeth 
more  than  is  meet,  but  it  tendeth  to  poverty." 

The  well-known  epitaph  on  Edward  Courte- 
nay,  Earl  of  Devonshire,  says  — 

"  What  we  gave,  we  have ; 
What  we  spent,  we  had ; 
What  we  left,  we  lost." 

Or,  as  another  version  of  the  same  idea  has 

it  — 

"What  I  saved,  I  lost; 
What  I  spent,  I  had ; 
What  I  gave,  I  have." 

Be  liberal,  though  not  lavish. 

"There  is  that  maketh  himself  rich,  yet  hath  nothing. 
There  is  that  maketh  himself  poor,  yet  hath  great 
riches." 

"He   that  hath  pity  on  the  poor,  lendeth  unto  the 

Lord; 
And  that  which  he   hath  given  will  he  pay  him 


again." 1 


1  Proverbs. 


60  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

The  advice  given  by  Christ  to  the  rich 
young  man  may  perhaps  be  considered  as  of 
individual  application,  for  we  must  remember 
our  children  as  well  as  the  poor.  Your  in- 
come is  indeed  your  own,  but  what  you  have 
inherited  from  your  ancestors  does  not  belong 
to  you  alone. 

Those  who  have  money  are  like  the  ser- 
vants to  whom  their  Lord  entrusted  the 
talents  in  the  parable.  We  shall  have  to 
account  for  it.  It  is  a  trust  committed  to 
us.  Money  is  nothing  to  be  proud  of. 

"  Charge  them  that  are  rich  in  this  world, 
that  they  be  not  high-minded,  nor  trust  in 
uncertain  riches,  but  in  the  living  God,  who 
giveth  us  richly  all  things  to  enjoy. 

"  That  they  do  good,  that  they  be  rich  in 
good  works,  ready  to  distribute,  willing  to 
communicate. 

"  Laying  up  in  store  for  themselves  a  good 
foundation  against  the  time  to  come,  that 
they  may  lay  hold  on  eternal  life."  l 

It  is  not  money,  but  the  love  of  money, 
which  the  Bible  tells  us  is  the  root  of  all  evil. 

il  Timothy. 


in  ON   MONEY   MATTERS  61 

"If  riches  increase,  set  not  your  heart  upon 
them."  In  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  the 
same  reason  is  given. 

"  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon 
earth,  where  moth  and  rust  doth  corrupt,  and 
where  thieves  break  through  and  steal : 

"  But  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasure  in 
heaven,  where  neither  moth  nor  rust  doth 
corrupt,  and  where  thieves  do  not  break 
through  and  steal.  For  where  your  treasure 
is,  there  will  your  heart  be  also." 


CHAPTER   IV 

RECREATION 

ALL  work  and  no  play  is  proverbially 
admitted  to  make  Jack  a  dull  boy.  If  the 
work  is  indoor  work  it  will  also  tend  to 
make  him  a  delicate  boy  and  a  weak  man. 
Games  are  by  no  means  loss  of  time.  They 
are  important  in  developing  the  body,  and 
especially  the  upper  part,  —  the  arms  and  the 
chest,  which  many  of  our  ordinary  avocations 
tend  rather  to  contract  than  to  expand. 

Games  not  only  keep  a  man  in  health,  but 
give  him  spirit  for  his  work ;  they  teach  him 
how  to  get  on  with  other  men :  to  give  way 
in  trifles,  to  play  fairly,  and  push  no  advan- 
tage to  an  extremity. 

They  give  moral,  as  well  as  physical, 
health  ;  daring  and  endurance,  self-command 
and  good-humour,  —  qualities  which  are  not 

62 


CHAP,  iv  RECREATION  63 

to  be  found  in  books,  and  no  teaching  can 
give.  The  Duke  of  Wellington  truly  said 
that  the  Battle  of  Waterloo  was  won  in  the 
playing  fields  of  Eton.  Many  of  the  best 
and  most  useful  lessons  of  public  schools 
are  those  which  the  boys  learn  in  the  play- 
ground. Only  let  games  be  the  recreation, 
not  the  business  of  your  life. 

As  regards  the  importance  of  games  to 
health,  I  will  quote  two  of  our  greatest 
physiological  authorities: — "Games,"  says 
Sir  James  Paget,  "are  admirable  in  all  the 
chief  constituent  qualities  of  recreations; 
but,  besides  this,  they  may  exercise  a  moral 
influence  of  great  value  in  business  or  in 
any  daily  work.  For  without  any  induce- 
ment of  a  common  interest  in  money,  with- 
out any  low  motive,  they  bring  boys  and 
men  to  work  together ;  they  teach  them  to 
be  colleagues  in  good  causes  with  all  who 
will  work  fairly  and  well  with  them ;  they 
teach  that  power  of  working  with  others 
which  is  among  the  best  powers  for  success 
in  every  condition  of  life.  And  by  custom, 
if  not  of  their  very  nature,  they  teach  fair- 


64  THE  USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

ness :  foul  play  in  any  of  them,  however 
sharp  may  be  the  competition,  is  by  consent 
of  all  disgraceful ;  and  they  who  have  a 
habit  of  playing  fair  will  be  the  more  ready 
to  deal  fair.  A  high  standard  of  honesty  in 
their  recreations  will  help  to  make  people 
despise  many  things  which  are  far  within 
the  limits  of  the  law.  .  .  .  Now,  I  think 
that  if  we  look  for  the  characteristics  which 
may  be  found  in  all  good  active  recreations, 
and  on  which  their  utility  chiefly  depends, 
we  shall  find  that  they  all  include  one  or 
more  of  these  three  things :  namely,  uncer- 
tainties, wonders,  and  opportunities  for  the 
exercise  of  skill  in  something  different  from 
the  regular  work.  And  the  appropriate- 
ness of  these  three  things  seems  to  be, 
especially,  in  that  they  provide  pleasant 
changes  which  are  in  strong  contrast  with 
the  ordinary  occupations  of  most  working 
lives,  and  that  they  give  opportunity  for 
the  exercise  of  powers  and  good  dispositions 
which,  being  too  little  used  in  the  daily 
business  of  life,  would  become  feeble  or  be 
lost." 


iv  RECREATION  65 

Professor  Michael  Foster,  Secretary  of  the 
Koyal  Society,  in  his  recent  Rede  lecture  has 
told  us  that  "  even  in  muscular  work  the 
weariness  is  chiefly  one  of  the  brain  ;  and  we 
are  all  familiar  with  a  weariness  of  the  brain 
in  causing  which  the  muscles  have  little  or  no 
share.  All  our  knowledge  goes  to  show  that 
the  work  of  the  brain,  like  the  work  of  the 
muscles,  is  accompanied  by  chemical  change  ; 
that  the  chemical  changes,  though  differing  in 
details,  are  of  the  same  order  in  the  brain  as 
in  the  muscle  ;  and  that  the  smallness  of  the 
changes  in  the  brain  as  compared  with  those 
of  the  muscle  is  counterbalanced,  or  more  than 
counterbalanced,  by  the  exceeding  sensitive- 
ness of  the  nervous  substance.  .  .  . 

"If  an  adequate  stream  of  pure  blood,  of 
blood  made  pure  by  efficient  co-operation  of 
organs  of  low  degree,  be  necessary  for  the  life 
of  the  muscle,  in  order  that  the  working  capital 
may  be  rapidly  renewed  and  the  harmful  prod- 
ucts rapidly  washed  away,  equally  true,  per- 
haps even  more  true,  is  this  of  the  brain. 
Moreover,  the  struggle  for  existence  has 
brought  to  the  front  a  brain  ever  ready  to  out- 


66  THE    USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

run  its  more  humble  helpmates  ;  and  even  in 
the  best  regulated  economy,  the  period  of  most 
effective  work  between  the  moment  when  all 
the  complex  machinery  has  been  got  into  work- 
ing order  and  the  moment  when  weariness 
begins  to  tell,  is  bounded  by  all  too  narrow 
limits.  If  there  be  any  truth  in  what  I  have 
laid  before  you,  the  sound  way  to  extend  those 
limits  is  not  so  much  by  rendering  the  brain 
more  agile  as  by  encouraging  the  humbler 
helpmates  so  that  their  more  efficient  co-oper- 
ation may  defer  the  onset  of  weariness." 

Hunting,  shooting,  and  fishing  in  common 
language  monopolise  the  term  Sport.  Even 
those  of  us  who  do  not  take  our  exercise  and 
recreation  with  the  Hounds,  the  Gun,  or  the 
Rod,  still  feel  the  fascination.  We  have  in- 
herited it  from  our  ancestors,  who  not  only 
lived  to  a  great  extent  by  and  for  "  sport  "  in 
this  world,  but  looked  forward  to  it  as  the 
greatest  happiness  in  the  next.  The  wild 
boar,  says  Ossian  :  — 

"  The  wild  boar  rushes  over  their  tombs, 
But  he  does  not  disturb  their  repose. 
They  still  love  the  sport  of  their  youth, 
And  mount  the  wind  with  joy." 


IV 


RECREATION  67 


Though  so  much  has  been  written  about 
our  debt  to  pure  Water,  yet  we  owe  quite  as 
much  to  fresh  Air.  How  wonderful  it  is!  It 
permeates  all  our  body,  it  bathes  the  skin  in  a 
medium  so  delicate  that  we  are  not  conscious 
of  its  presence,  and  yet  so  strong  that  it  wafts 
the  odours  of  flowers  and  fruit  into  our  rooms, 
carries  our  ships  over  the  seas,  the  purity  of 
sea  and  mountain  into  the  heart  of  our  cities. 
It  is  the  vehicle  of  sound,  it  brings  to  us  the 
voices  of  those  we  love  and  all  the  sweet 
music  of  nature ;  it  is  the  great  reservoir  of 
the  rain  which  waters  the  earth,  it  softens  the 
heat  of  day  and  the  cold  of  night,  covers  us 
overhead  with  a  glorious  arch  of  blue,  and 
lights  up  the  morning  and  evening  skies  with 
fire.  It  is  so  exquisitely  soft  and  pure,  so 
gentle  and  yet  so  useful,  that  no  wonder  Ariel 
is  the  most  delicate,  lovable,  and  fascinating 
of  all  Nature  Spirits. 

"For  of  all  things,"  says  Jefferies,  "there 
is  none  so  sweet  as  sweet  air  —  one  great 
flower  it  is,  drawn  round  about,  over  and  en- 
closing, like  Aphrodite's  arms :  as  if  the  dome 
of  the  sky  were  a  bell-flower  drooping  down 


68  THE   USE   OF   LIFE 


CHAP. 


over  us,  and  the  magical  essence  of  it  filling 
all  the  room  of  the  earth.  Sweetest  of  all 
things  is  wild-flower  air.  Full  of  their  ideal, 
the  starry  flowers  strain  upwards  on  the  bank, 
striving  to  keep  above  the  rude  grasses  that 
pushed  by  them:  genius  has  ever  had  such  a 
struggle.  The  plain  road  was  made  beautiful 
by  the  many  thoughts  it  gave.  I  came  every 
morning  to  stay  by  the  starlit  bank. 

"  Not  till  years  after,  was  I  able  to  see  why 
I  went  the  same  round  and  did  not  care  for 
change.  I  do  not  want  change.  I  want  the 
same  old  and  loved  things,  the  same  wild 
flowers,  the  same  tree  and  soft  ash-green, 
the  turtle  doves,  the  blackbirds,  the  coloured 
yellow-hammer  sing,  sing,  singing  as  long  as 
there  is  light  to  cast  a  shadow  on  the  dial,  for 
such  is  the  measure  of  his  song,  and  I  want 
them  in  the  same  place  ...  all  the  living 
staircase  of  the  Spring,  step  by  step,  up- 
wards to  the  great  gallery  of  the  Summer — 
let  me  watch  the  same  succession  year  by 
year."1 

Our   fields  do  not  contain  the  same  rich 

1  Jefferies. 


IV  RECREATION  69 

variety  of   flowers  as  those  of    Switzerland, 
but  at  times  they  glow  with  buttercups, 

"  And  Ladysmocks,  all  silver  white, 
Do  paint  the  meadows  with  delight," J 

while  woods  are  perhaps  even  more  beautiful, 
more  enchanting  — 

"  So  wondrous  wild  the  whole  might  seem, 
The  scenery  of  a  fairy  dream." 

We  often  hear  of  bad  weather,  but  in  real- 
ity, no  weather  is  bad.  It  is  all  delightful, 
though  in  different  ways.  Some  weather  may 
be  bad  for  farmers  or  crops,  but  for  man  all 
kinds  are  good.  Sunshine  is  delicious,  rain  is 
refreshing,  wind  braces  us  up,  snow  is  exhil- 
arating. As  Ruskin  says,  "  There  is  really 
no  such  thing  as  bad  weather,  only  different 
kinds  of  good  weather." 

Rest  is  not  idleness,  and  to  lie  sometimes 
on  the  grass  under  the  trees  on  a  summer's 
day,  listening  to  the  murmur  of  water,  or 
watching  the  clouds  float  across  the  blue  sky, 
is  by  no  means  waste  of  time. 

Moreover,    air   and   exercise   generally   go 


70  THE   USE    OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

together,  so  that  you  will  combine  both  ad- 
vantages. There  is  nothing  so  good  for  the 
inside  of  a  man  as  the  outside  of  a  horse. 
Every  one  indeed  ought  to  make  it  a  primary 
and  sacred  duty  to  be  at  least  two  hours  of 
the  day  in  the  open  air. 

Fresh  air  is  as  good  for  the  mind  as  for  the 
body.  Nature  always  seems  trying  to  talk 
to  us  as  if  she  had  some  great  secret  to  tell. 
And  so  she  has. 

Earth  and  Sky,  Woods  and  Fields,  Lakes 
and  Rivers,  the  Mountain  and  the  Sea,  are 
excellent  schoolmasters,  and  teach  some  of 
us  more  than  we  can  ever  learn  from  books. 
But  more  than  this,  if  you  go  away  into 
the  country,  row  yourself  on  a  river,  gather 
flowers  in  a  wood,  or  fossils  in  a  pit,  pick 
up  shells  and  seaweeds  on  a  shore,  play 
cricket  or  golf,  or  give  yourself  fresh  air 
and  exercise  in  any  other  way,  you  will  find 
that  you  have  not  only  gained  in  health,  but 
that  your  cares  and  troubles  and  anxieties 
are  washed  away,  or  at  any  rate  greatly 
lightened.  Nature  calms,  cools,  and  invig- 
orates us.  She  renders  the  mind  more  serene, 
more  cheerful. 


IV 


RECREATION  71 


A  life  devoted  to  pleasure  and  recreation 
would  of  course  be  not  only  selfish,  but  in- 
tolerably insipid.  Games  should  never  be  the 
business  of  life,  but  in  moderation  enjoyment 
is  not  idleness. 

And  what  are  the  elements  of  Recreation  ? 
There  are  true  pleasures  and  false  pleasures. 
Plato  makes  Protarchus  ask  Socrates,  "  And 
true  pleasures,  Socrates,  which  are  they?" 

Socrates.  "  Those  from  beautiful  colours, 
as  they  are  called,  and  from  figures,  and  most 
of  those  from  odours,  and  those  from  sounds, 
and  any  objects  whose  absence  is  unfelt  and 
painless,  while  their  presence  is  sensible  and 
productive  of  pleasure." 

But  while  the  senses  can  give  true  pleasure, 
this  is  not  the  highest  good.  Philebus,  he 
continues,  maintained  "that  enjoyment  and 
pleasure  and  delight,  and  the  class  of  feeling 
akin  to  them,  are  a  good  to  every  living  being, 
whereas  I  contend  that  not  these,  but  wisdom 
and  knowledge  and  memory,  and  their  kin- 
dred, right  opinion  and  true  reasonings,  are 
better  and  more  desirable  than  pleasure  for 
all  who  are  able  to  partake  of  them,  and  that 


72  THE    USE   OF   LIFE 


CHAP. 


to  all  such  who  are  or  ever  will  be,  they  are 
the  most  advantageous  of  all  things." 

The  true  pleasures  are  almost  innumerable. 
Relations  and  Friends,  Conversation,  Books, 
Music,  Poetry,  Art,  Exercise  and  Rest,  the 
beauty  and  variety  of  Nature,  Summer 
and  Winter,  Morning  and  Evening,  Day  and 
Night,  Sunshine  and  Storm,  Woods  and 
Fields,  Rivers,  Lakes  and  Seas,  Animals 
and  Plants,  Trees  and  Flowers,  Leaves  and 
Fruit,  are  but  a  few  of  them. 

We  ask  for  no  small  boon  when  we  pray 
for  "  the  kindly  fruits  of  the  earth,  so  that 
we  may  enjoy  them."  Moreover,  it  may  even 
be  possible  that  "  there  are  many  new  joys 
unknown  to  man,  and  which  he  will  find 
along  the  splendid  path  of  civilisation."  l 

It  is  our  own  fault  if  we  do  not  enjoy  lue. 
"  All  men,"  says  Ruskin,  "  may  enjoy,  though 
few  can  achieve." 

One  of  the  greatest  talismans  in  the  Ara- 
bian Nights  is  the  Magic  Carpet,  on  which  if 
a  man  sat,  he  was  transported  wherever  he 
wished  to  be.  Railways  do  this  now  for  all 

1  Mantegazza  in  Ideals  of  Life. 


iv  RECREATION  73 

of  us,  and  "  as  we  increase  the  range  of  what 
we  see,  we  increase  the  richness  of  what  we 
can  imagine."  * 

Again,  I  should  rank  a  good  talk  very 
high  among  the  pleasures  of  existence.  It  is 
an  admirable  tonic,  food  both  for  mind  and 
body.  Herrick  vividly  acknowledges  his  debt 
to  Ben  Jonson,  and  describes  their  suppers  — 

"When  we  such  clusters  had 
As  made  us  nobly  wild,  not  mad ; 
And  yet,  each  verse  of  thine 
Outdid  the  meat,  outdid  the  frolic  wine." 

When  Johnson  wished  to  describe  a  pleas- 
ant evening,  Sir,  he  said,  "  We  had  a  good 
talk."  And  I  have  often  found  an  hour  with 
Darwin  or  Lyell,  Kingsley  or  Ruskin,  Hooker 
or  Tyndall,  as  invigorating  as  a  draught  of 
fresh  air. 

There  are  few  gifts  in  which  men  differ 
more  than  in  the  Art  of  Conversation.  I 
have  known  very  clever  men,  —  men,  too, 
who  could  be  made  most  interesting,  —  but 
from  whom  nothing  was  to  be  expected  unless 
it  were  absolutely  extracted  from  them.  A 

1  Ruskin. 


74  THE   USE    OF   LIFE 


CHAP. 


good  talker  is  always  welcome.  Like  every- 
thing else,  the  art  can  be  cultivated.  No  one 
can  expect  to  talk  well  without  practice. 

"The  first  ingredient  of  good  talk,"  says 
Sir  William  Temple,  "  is  truth,  the  next  good 
sense,  the  third  good-humour,  and  the  fourth 
wit,"  and  the  first  three  at  any  rate  are  in 
the  power  of  any  one. 

Many  people  have  learned  much  of  what 
they  know  from  conversation.  "  He  that 
questioneth  much,"  says  Bacon,  "  shall  learn 
much  and  content  much ;  but  especially  if  he 
apply  his  questions  to  the  skill  of  the  persons 
whom  he  asketh  ;  for  he  shall  give  them  occa- 
sion to  please  themselves  in  speaking,  and 
himself  shall  continually  gather  knowledge." 

We  do  not  sufficiently  cultivate  in  children, 
or,  for  that  matter,  in  ourselves  either,  the 
sense  of  Beauty.  Yet  what  pleasure  is  so 
pure,  so  costless,  so  accessible,  indeed  so  ever 
present  with  us !  One  man  will  derive  the 
keenest  delight  from  scenery,  trees  and  foli- 
age, fruit  and  flowers,  the  blue  sky,  the  fleecy 
clouds,  the  sparkling  sea,  the  ripple  on  the 
lake,  the  gleam  on  the  river,  the  shadows  on 


IV 


RECREATION  75 


the  grass,  the  moon  and  stars  at  night.  To 
another,  all  this  is  nothing.  The  moon  and 
stars  shine  in  vain ;  Birds  and  Insects,  Trees 
and  Flowers,  River  and  Lake  and  Sea,  Sun, 
Moon,  and  Stars  give  him  no  pleasure. 

"  For  of  the  Soule  the  bodie  forme  doth  take ; 
For  Soule  is  forme,  and  doth  the  bodie  make." 1 

Our  artificial  colours  are  "  good  enough  for 
the  splendour  of  lowly  pride,  but  not  good 
enough  for  one  wreath  of  perishing  cloud, 
nor  one  feather  in  a  wild  duck's  wing."  2 

"  There  is  yet  a  light,"  says  Ruskin,  "  which 
the  eye  invariably  seeks  with  a  deeper  feeling 
of  the  beautiful,  —  the  light  of  the  declining 
or  breaking  day,  and  the  flecks  of  scarlet 
clouds  burning  like  watchfires  in  the  green 
sky  of  the  horizon."  The  colours  of  the  sky 
seem  to  lighten  up  the  earth,  and  "  the  orange 
stain  on  the  edge  of  yonder  western  peak  re- 
flects the  sunset  of  a  thousand  years."  Sun- 
sets are  so  beautiful  that  they  almost  seem 
as  if  we  were  looking  through  the  Gates  of 
Heaven. 

1  Spenser.  2  Hamerton. 


76  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

The  Talmudic  Commentators  tell  us  that 
in  Manna  every  one  found  the  taste  he  liked 
best,  and  so  in  Nature  every  one  who  seeks 
will  find  what  he  most  enjoys. 

I  have  no  idea,  however,  of  attempting  to 
exhaust  the  long  list  of  true  pleasures.  And 
where  there  are  so  many  innocent  pleasures, 
why  choose  any  which  are  bad,  or  even  doubt- 
ful? At  any  rate  exhaust  the  good,  if  you 
can :  it  will  then  be  time  enough  to  think  of 
others. 

Those  who  have,  as  the  saying  is,  "  seen 
life  "  and  think  they  know  "  the  world,"  are 
very  much  mistaken ;  they  know  less  of  the 
realities  of  existence  than  many  a  peasant 
who  has  never  left  his  own  parish,  but  has 
used  his  eyes  wisely  there. 

A  life  of  indulgence,  a  "  gay  life,"  as  it  is 
falsely  called,  is  a  miserable  mockery  of  hap- 
piness. Those  who  have  fallen  victims  to  it 
complain  of  the  world,  when  they  have  only 
themselves  to  blame.  "  Lorsque  les  plaisirs 
nous  ont  epuises,  nous  croy ons  que  .nous  avons 
epuise  les  plaisirs." l  "  I  am  young,"  said 

1  Vauvenargues. 


IV 


RECREATION  77 


De  Musset,  "  I  have  passed  but  the  half  of  the 
road  of  life,  and  already  weary,  I  turn  and 
look  back."  What  a  melancholy  confession  ! 
If  he  had  lived  wisely  he  would  have  looked 
back  with  thankfulness,  and  forward  with 
hope. 

The  worth  of  a  life  is  to  be  measured  by 
its  moral  value.  "  Further,  the  Soul  and 
Body  make  a  perfect  Man,  when  the  Soul 
commands  wisely,  or  rules  lovingly,  and  cares 
profitably,  and  provides  plentifully,  and  con- 
ducts charitably  that  Body  which  is  its  part- 
ner and  yet  the  inferior.  But  if  the  Body 
shall  give  Laws,  and  by  the  violence  of  the 
appetite,  first  abuse  the  Understanding,  and 
then  possess  the  superior  portion  of  the  Will 
and  Choice,  the  Body  and  the  Soul  are  not 
apt  company,  and  the  man  is  a  fool  and  mis- 
erable. If  the  Soul  rules  not,  it  cannot  be 
a  companion :  either  it  must  govern  or  be  a 
slave."  l 

1  Jeremy  Taylor. 


CHAPTER  V 

HEALTH 

THE  soul  is  of  course  the  noblest  part  of 
man,  but  in  the  present  conditions  of  our  ex- 
istence at  any  rate,  it  can  only  act  through 
and  by  the  body.  An  amusing  illustration 
is  afforded  by  the  first  experiment  of  our 
great  countryman,  Faraday.  He  began  life 
as  a  boy  in  a  chemist's  shop,  and  being  one 
day  sent  to  a  customer,  he  could  not  make 
any  one  hear  when  he  rang  the  bell.  He 
put  his  head  through  the  railings  to  try  and 
see  whether  any  one  was  at  home,  and  then 
the  question  occurred  to  him,  on  which  side 
of  the  railings  he  really  was?  He  decided 
that  a  man  was  where  his  head  was,  but  at 
that  moment  the  door  was  suddenly  opened 
before  he  could  move  out  of  the  way,  and 
squeezed  his  leg  against  the  railings,  bringing 

78 


CHAP,  v  HEALTH  79 

forcibly  home  to  him  the  truth  of  the  old 
parable  about  the  head  and  the  other  mem- 
bers. 

The  conditions  of  our  life  render  the  study 
of  health  now  especially  important.  Our  an- 
cestors lived  more  in  the  country,  more  in  the 
open  air,  more  in  agricultural  operations.  We 
are  to  a  much  greater  extent  concentrated  in 
cities,  work  much  more  in  houses,  shops  and 
factories ;  our  occupations  are  sedentary  and 
stooping,  and  are  a  greater  tax  on  the  brain 
and  nervous  system.  It  can,  I  fear,  hardly 
be  doubted  that  the  people  of  our  great  cities 
are  less  vigorous  than  their  forefathers.  No 
one  can  drive  through  the  poorer  parts  of 
London,  or  any  other  great  manufacturing 
centre,  without  being  struck  by  the  want  of 
vitality,  the  pale  faces,  and  narrow  chests  of 
both  men  and  women.  Moreover,  our  very 
sanitary  improvements  are  in  one  respect  a 
danger,  by  keeping  alive  the  weak  and  the 
diseased.  Much  of  the  misery  of  disease  is 
due  to  causes  which  might  be  obviated  by  a 
little  care  and  attention,  and  some  elementary 
knowledge  of  the  laws  of  health. 


80  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

Even  in  the  earliest  times  of  which  we  have 
any  record,  wise  statesmen  paid  much  atten- 
tion to  the  subject  of  health.  They  realised 
the  great  importance  of  the  Mens  sana  in 
corpore  sano. 

The  care  of  our  health  is  a  sacred  duty. 
It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  hygienic  rules  of 
Moses  formed  a  considerable  part  of  his  relig- 
ious teaching.  This,  I  think,  is  hardly  correct. 
We  must  remember  that  what  we  have  in  the 
Bible  is  a  code  of  laws  —  civil  and  social,  as 
well  as  religious.  Nevertheless,  the  laws  of 
health,  if  not  strictly  a  part  of  religion,  have 
always  been  regarded  as  coming  near  to  it. 
"  What !  know  ye  not  that  your  body  is  the 
Temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you, 
which  ye  have  of  God,  and  ye  are  not  your 
own  ? "  *  The  Egyptian  reverence  for  the 
body  was  wiser  than  the  Mediaeval  contempt, 
and  there  is  no  inherent  virtue,  but  really  the 
reverse,  in  rags  and  dirt. 

The  Greeks  "  made  physical  as  well  as  in- 
tellectual education  a  science  as  well  as  a 
study.  Their  women  practised  graceful,  and 

i  St.  Paul. 


v  HEALTH  81 

in  some  cases,  even  athletic  exercises.  They 
developed,  by  a  free  and  healthy  life,  those 
figures  which  remain  everlasting  and  unap- 
proachable models  of  human  beauty."  r 

"7Tis  Life,  not  Death,  for  which  we  pant: 
'Tis  Life,  whereof  our  nerves  are  scant : 
More  Life,  and  fuller,  that  we  want." 

Cleanliness  is  next  to  Godliness,  says  the 
old  proverb,  and  the  modern  discoveries  in 
medical  science  not  only  confirm  the  old 
adage,  but  explain  clearly  the  reason,  and 
show  why  it  is  so. 

We  now  know  that  many  diseases  are  not 
primarily  due  to  any  abnormal  condition  of 
the  tissues,  but  are  actual  invasions  by  other 
organisms;  that  cholera,  small-pox,  and  prob- 
ably several  other  diseases  cannot  originate 
of  themselves,  but  that  the  germs  must  be 
planted  in  us.  Hence  the  great  importance 
of  cleanliness,  not  only  in  ourselves,  but  in 
the  houses  we  live  in,  the  clothes  we  wear, 
the  water  we  drink,  and  the  air  we  breathe. 

The  human  body  is  indeed  a  standing  mira- 
cle !  Consider  for  a  moment  the  marvellous 

1  Kingsley. 


82  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

amount  of  knowledge  stored  up  in  the  brain ! 
Consider  the  rapidity  with  which  the  muscles 
answer  to  the  will !  Sir  James  Paget  has 
told  us  that  a  practised  musician  can  play 
on  the  piano  at  the  rate  of  twenty-four  notes 
in  a  second.  For  each  note  a  nerve  current 
must  be  transmitted  from  the  brain  to  the 
fingers,  and  from  the  fingers  to  the  brain. 
Each  note  requires  three  movements  of  a 
finger,  the  bending  down  and  raising  up,  and 
at  least  one  lateral,  making,  no  less  than 
seventy-two  motions  in  a  second,  each  requir- 
ing a  distinct  effort  of  the  will,  and  directed 
unerringly  with  a  certain  speed,  and  a  certain 
force,  to  a  certain  place. 

The  skin  is  a  delicate  and  most  elaborate 
organ,  built  up  of  millions  of  cells,  and  con- 
taining miles  of  veins,  and  ducts,  capillaries 
and  nerves.  It  is  continually  renewing  itself, 
and  to  fulfil  its  functions  properly,  requires 
a  reasonable  amount  of  care,  and  plenty  of 
water.  The  use  of  the  brush  is,  moreover,  al- 
most as  necessary  for  the  skin  as  for  the  hair. 

It  may  be  said  of  many  an  invalid,  as  it 
was  by  Milton  of  Hobson,  that  "  ease  was  his 
chief  disease." 


v  HEALTH  83 

"  The  luxuries  of  Campania  weakened  Han- 
nibal, whom  neither  snows  nor  Alps  could 
vanquish :  victorious  in  arms,  he  was  con- 
quered in  pleasure."  * 

The  senses,  —  full  of  innocent  delight  as 
they  are,  —  will  no  doubt,  if  we  yield  to 
them,  wreck  us,  like  the  Sirens  of  old,  on  the 
rocks  and  whirlpools  of  life.  We  bring  many 
diseases  on  ourselves  by  errors  of  diet.  The 
word  drink  is  often  used  as  synonymous  with 
Alcohol  —  the  great  curse  of  northern  na- 
tions. In  some  cases  a  valuable  medicine, 
but  yet  so  great  a  temptation  as  to  be  the 
source  of  probably  half  the  sin  and  misery 
and  suffering  of  our  countrymen.  Honest 
water  never  made  any  one  a  sinner,  but  crime 
may  almost  be  said  to  be  concentrated  alco- 
hol. "Where  Satan  cannot  go  in  person," 
says  an  old  Jewish  proverb,  ahe  sends  wine." 

"  Once  the  demon  enters, 

Stands  within  the  door  ; 
Peace,  and  hope,  and  gladness 
Dwell  there  never  more." 2 

"Wine,"  says  Pliny,  "maketh  the  hand 
quiver,  the  eye  watery,  the  night  unquiet, 

1  Seneca.  2  Challis. 


84  THE    USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

evil  dreams,  a  foul  breath  in  the  morning, 
and  an  utter  forgetfulness  of  all  things."  Sir 
W.  Raleigh  quotes  this  passage,  and  adds, 
"  Whosoever  loveth  wine  shall  not  be  trusted 
of  any  man,  for  he  cannot  keep  a  secret. 
Wine  inaketh  man  not  only  a  beast,  but  a 
madman ;  and  if  thou  love  it,  thy  own  wife, 
thy  children,  and  thy  friends  will  despise 
thee." 

Shakespeare  has  several  excellent  passages 
in  condemnation  of  drink. 

"  Oh  that  men  should  put  an  enemy  in  their  mouths 
To  steal  away  their  brains  !  that  we 
Should  with  joy,  pleasance,  revel  and  applause, 
Transform  ourselves  into  beasts." 

"To  be  now  a  sensible  man,  by  and  by  a 
fool,  and  presently  a  beast."  This  is,  how- 
ever, really  unfair  to  beasts. 

On  the  other  hand,  how  rich  is  the  reward 
of  moderation ! 

"  Though  I  look  old  yet  am  I  strong  and  lusty : 
For  in  my  youth  I  never  did  apply 
Hot  and  rebellious  liquors  to  my  blood. 

Therefore  my  age  is  as  a  lusty  winter, 
Frosty,  but  kindly."  l 

1  Shakespeare 


v  HEALTH  85 

Surprise  has  sometimes  been  expressed  that 
the  evils  of  drunkenness  are  not  more  often 
denounced  in  the  Bible,  but  we  must  remem- 
ber that  it  was  written  in  a  hot  country. 
Drunkenness  is  especially  a  vice  of  cold  cli- 
mates. It  is,  however,  denounced  by  Solo- 
mon — 

"  Who  hath  woe  ?     Who  hath  sorrow  ? 
Who  hath  contentions  ?     Who  hath  babbling  ? 
Who  hath  wounds  without  cause  ?     Who  hath  red- 
ness of  eyes  ? 

They  that  tarry  long  at  the  wine ; 
They  that  go  to  seek  mixed  wine. 
Look  not  thou  upon  the  wine  when  it  is  red, 
When  it  giveth  his  colour  in  the  cup : 

At  the  last  it  biteth  like  a  serpent, 
And  stingeth  like  an  adder." T 

There  are  some  grounds  for  hope  that 
drunkenness  is  a  decreasing  evil.  The 
greater  opportunities  for  intellectual  occupa- 
tions, the  easier  access  to  music,  pictures  and 
books,  the  more  respectable  and  comfortable 
homes  of  our  people,  have  done,  and  are 
doing,  much  to  encourage  temperance. 

1  Proverbs. 


86  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

But  if  the  evils  of  alcohol  are  more  con- 
spicuous, those  of  overeating  are  also  very 
common.  Probably  nine  people  out  of  ten 
eat  more  than  they  need,  more  than  is  good 
for  them.  An  occasional  feast  matters  little ; 
it  is  the  continual  daily  overloading  ourselves 
with  food  which  is  so  injurious,  so  depressing. 
It  is  easy  to  eat  too  much ;  there  is  no  fear 
of  eating  too  little. 

Moderation  should  run  through  the  whole 
of  life.  "  In  truth,  refining  the  gold  of  both 
knowledge  and  vigour,  it  increases  tenfold 
the  value  of  both,  and  adding  gentleness  to 
strength,  and  temperance  to  enthusiasm,  is 
perhaps  the  great  secret  of  success  in  work."1 

Moderation  is  strength,  not  weakness  ;  it 
implies  self-command  and  self-control. 

Do  not  linger  long  over  meals,  but  do  not 
eat  quickly.  It  is  said  that  you  should 
always  rise  from  the  table  feeling  as  if  you 
would  wish  for  more.  The  brain  cannot 
work  if  the  stomach  is  full.  "  After  dinner 
rest  awhile"  is  a  good  rule,  but  it  is  a  poor 
life  if  you  eat  so  much  that  you  have  to  rest 

1  Miss  Sewell. 


v  HEALTH  87 

from  one  meal  to  another.  Eat  to  live,  but 
do  not  live  to  eat.  Long  meals  make  short 
lives. 

When  savages  wish  to  become  "  medicine 
men,"  one  of  the  preparations  is  a  long  fast. 
The  result  is  an  increased  activity  of  the 
nervous  system,  which  they  take  for  inspira- 
tion. They  carry  it,  no  doubt,  too  far ;  but 
any  one  who  tries,  will  find  that  he  can  do 
better  mental  work  if  he  keeps  down  the 
amount  of  his  food. 

A  light  stomach,  moreover,  makes  a  light 
heart.  High  feeding  means  low  spirits,  and 
many  people  suffer  as  much  from  dyspepsia 
as  from  all  other  ailments  put  together. 

"  Beware,"  says  Bacon,  "  of  any  sudden 
change  in  any  great  point  of  diet,  and  if 
necessity  enforce  it,  fit  the  rest  to  it,  to  be 
free-minded  and  cheerfully  disposed  at  hours 
of  meat,  and  of  sleep  and  of  exercise  is  the 
best  precept  of  long  lasting." 

"  If  you  wish  to  be  well,"  said  Abernethy, 
"  you  must  live  on  6d.  a  day,  and  earn  it 
yourself."  This  wise  saying  comprises  in  a 
few  words  the  requisites  both  as  to  diet  and 


88  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

as  to  exercise.  You  can  buy,  especially  in 
these  cheap  times,  sufficient  food  for  6d.,  — 
good  wholesome  food,  —  but  you  cannot  get 
drunk,  and  you  are  not  likely  to  overeat 
yourself.  It  emphasises  also  the  necessity  of 
exercise. 

As  we  are  now  situated,  scarcely  any  time 
spent  in  the  open  air  can  be  said  to  be 
wasted.  Such  hours  will  not  only  be  counted 
in  life,  but  will  actually  add  to  it,  —  will  tend 
to  make  "  your  days  long  in  the  land."  The 
Romans  had  an  excellent  proverb  —  "  In  aere 
salus,"  and  you  can  hardly  be  too  much  out 
of  doors. 

Pure  water  is  as  important  as  fresh  air. 
Plenty  of  water,  cold  if  you  can  stand  it,  and 
both  outside  and  in.  Even  what  may  seem 
minor  matters,  such  as  attention  to  the  teeth, 
may  make  no  small  difference  to  the  comfort 
of  life. 

Health  is  much  more  a  matter  of  habits 
and  of  diet  than  of  medicine.  Our  ancestors 
used  to  take  drugs  to  keep  off  disease.  Not 
only  the  College  of  Physicians,  but  even 
Bacon,  recommended  them.  Yet  it  was  a 


v  HEALTH  89 

radical  error.  Locke  seems  to  have  been  the 
first  to  point  out  the  fallacy.  The  very  name 
of  Medical  Science  seems  to  point  to  the  use 
of  drugs.  But  if  we  live  sensibly  we  shall 
require  to  spend  very  little  on  medicine. 

Give  Nature  fair  play  and  let  her  alone. 
"  Do  not,"  said  Napoleon,  "  counteract  the 
living  principle  :  leave  it  the  liberty  of  de- 
fending itself :  it  will  do  better  than  any 
drugs." 

With  plenty  of  air,  plenty  of  water,  and 
moderation  in  diet,  most  of  us  may  enjoy  the 
glorious  feeling  of  health  and  strength,  and 
even  retain  the  spring  of  youth  until  far  on 
in  age. 

But  health  is  not  merely  a  matter  of  the 
body.  "  Anger,  hatred,  grief  and  fear  are 
among  the  influences  most  destructive  of 
vitality."  *  And  on  the  other  hand,  cheerful- 
ness, good-humour,  and  peace  of  mind  are 
powerful  elements  of  health. 

We  are  told  that  Lycurgus  dedicated  a  lit- 
tle statue  to  the  god  of  Laughter  in  each  of 
the  Spartan  eating-halls.  Most  people,  said 

1  Dr.  Richardson. 


90  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

Buffon,  "  might  live  to  be  older,  but  they  die 
of  conceit  and  chagrin."  He  was  speaking 
of  his  own  countrymen,  but  it  is  true  of 
others  also. 

When  we  are  out  of  sorts  things  get  on  our 
nerves,  the  most  trifling  annoyances  assume 
the  proportions  of  a  catastrophe.  It  is  a 
sure  sign  that  we  need  rest  and  fresh  air. 

We  often  hear  of  over-pressure  in  children, 
and  of  older  people  who  have  worked  them- 
selves to  death.  In  most  cases  it  is  not  hon- 
est work,  but  excitement,  worry,  and  anxiety 
which  rum  the  constitution.  Idleness,  dissi- 
pation, and  self-indulgence  have  killed  many 
more  than  good  hard  work.  The  brain  re- 
quires exercise  as  well  as  the  muscles.  If 
you  train  yourself  to  early  hours,  temperance, 
and  wise  habits,  work,  even  hard  work,  if 
only  not  excessive,  will  do  you  more  good 
than  harm. 

Most  of  us  have  at  some  time  or  another 
to  pass  through  a  period  of  sleeplessness.  It 
is  certainly  most  depressing ;  one  feels  as  if 
some  great  misfortune  were  impending  ;  little 
difficulties,  which  at  other  times  it  would  be 


v  HEALTH  91 

a  pleasure  to  surmount,  appear  insuperable; 
the  mind  seems  to  fly  from  everything  pleas- 
ant, and  broods  over  anything  which  has 
gone,  or  possibly  may  go,  wrong.  Do  not, 
however,  despair ;  I  believe  sleeplessness 
never  killed  any  one.  But  above  all  do  not 
take  drugs ;  that  is  the  real  danger.  Be  as 
little  in  the  house,  and  as  much  out  of  doors 
as  you  possibly  can,  take  things  as  easily  as 
you  may,  and  depend  upon  it,  the  blessing 
of  sleep  will  one  day  return.  If  it  has  not 
lasted  too  long,  you  will  be  to  a  great  extent 
repaid,  for  you  will  have  learnt  to  know  the 
blessing  of  sleep,  which  as  a  rule  we  do  not 
half  appreciate. 

Many  bodily  ailments  have  their  origin  in 
the  mind.  Medical  men  have  not  to  consider 
physical  symptoms  only,  but  will  often  find 
themselves  face  to  face  with  the  question  — 

"Canst  thou  not  minister  to  a  mind  diseased; 
Pluck  from  the  memory  a  rooted  sorrow ; 
Raze  out  the  written  troubles  of  the  brain; 
And  with  some  sweet  oblivious  antidote, 
Cleanse  the  stuff' d  bosom  of  that  perilous  stuff, 
Which  weighs  upon  the  heart  ?  "  l 

1  Shakespeare. 


92  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

Moreover,  health  is  not  only  a  great  ele- 
ment of  happiness,  but  it  is  essential  to  good 
work.  It  is  not  merely  wasteful  but  selfish 
to  throw  it  away. 

It  is  impossible  to  do  good  work,  —  at  any 
rate,  it  is  impossible  to  do  our  best,  —  if  we 
overstrain  ourselves.  It  is  bad  policy,  because 
all  work  done  under  such  circumstances  will 
inevitably  involve  an  additional  period  of 
quiet  and  rest  afterwards;  but  apart  from 
this,  work  so  done  will  not  be  of  a  high 
quality,  it  will  show  traces  of  irritability  and 
weakness :  the  judgment  will  not  be  good : 
if  it  involves  co-operation  with  others  there 
will  be  great  possibility  of  friction  and  mis- 
understandings. Let  any  one  try  to  make  a 
sketch,  and  he  will  see  at  once  that  his  hand 
is  not  steady,  not  under  proper  control,  and 
this  is  not  merely  a  matter  of  muscular 
fatigue,  but  of  nervous  exhaustion.  Labour 
ought  to  be  enjoyed  ;  and  to  enjoy  it,  we 
must  work  steadily  and  energetically,  but  not 
incessantly,  not  neglecting  food  and  rest, 
exercise  and  holidays. 

The  weakening  and  lowering  tendency  of 


v  HEALTH  93 

ill-health  is  especially  marked  when  it  is  self- 
incurred.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  some 
who,  through  no  fault  of  their  own,  are  born 
to  a  life  of  suffering.  It  almost  seems  in  such 
cases  as  if  Nature  often  compensates  for  the 
weakness  of  the  body  by  the  clearness  and 
brightness  of  the  mind.  We  have  all  met 
some  great  sufferers,  whose  cheerfulness  and 
good-humour  are  not  only  a  lesson  to  us  who 
enjoy  good  health,  but  who  seem  to  be,  as  it 
were,  raised  and  consecrated  by  a  life  of  suf- 
fering. 


CHAPTER  VI 

NATIONAL    EDUCATION 

FROM  the  earliest  times  of  which  we  have 
any  record,  the  wisest  of  men  have  urged  the 
importance  of  education.1 

"  Of  all  treasure,"  says  the  Hitopadesa, 
"  knowledge  is  the  most  precious,  for  it  can 
neither  be  stolen,  given  away,  nor  consumed." 
'< Education,"  says  Plato,  "is  the  fairest  thing 
that  the  best  of  men  can  ever  have." 

Montaigne  stated  broadly  that  ignorance 
was  "  the  mother  of  evil."  "  Learning,"  said 
Fuller,  "  is  the  greatest  alms  that  can  be 
given." 2  "  Pouvoir,  "  said  a  French  moralist, 
"sans  savoir  est  fort  dangereux."  An  igno- 
rant life  must  always  be  comparatively  a  dull 

1  It  is,  however,  rather  remarkable  that  so  far  as  I  know 
there  has  been  no  book  expressly  written  for  children  until 
quite  within  recent  years. 

2  Fuller's  Worthies. 

94 


CHAP,  vi  NATIONAL    EDUCATION  95 

one.  It  has  been  well  said  that  Man  needs 
knowledge,  not  merely  as  a  means  of  liveli- 
hood, but  as  a  means  of  life. 

Petrarch  said  that  what  he  cared  for  most 
was  to  learn,  and  Shakespeare  probably  ex- 
pressed his  own  .views  in  the  words  which  he 
put  into  the  mouth  of  Lord  Say,  that 

"  Ignorance  is  the  curse  of  God ; 
Knowledge  the  wing  wherewith  we  fly  to  heaven." 

Solomon  in  a  beautiful  passage  tells  us 
that  — 

"  Happy  is  the  man  that  findeth  wisdom, 

And  the  man  that  getteth  understanding: 
For  the  merchandise  of  it  is  better  than  the  mer- 
chandise of  silver, 

And  the  gain  thereof  than  fine  gold. 
She  is  more  precious  than  rubies : 

And  all  the  things  thou  canst  desire 

Are  not  to  be  compared  unto  her. 
Length  of  days  is  in  her  right  hand ; 

And  in  her  left  hand  riches  and  honour. 
Her  ways  are  ways  of  pleasantness, 

And  all  her  paths  are  peace." l 

And  again — 

"  Wisdom  is  the  principal  thing ;  therefore  get  wisdom : 
And  with  all  thy  getting  get  understanding." 

1  Proverbs. 


96  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

And  yet  the  prevailing  opinion  was  long  in 
the  opposite  direction,  especially  as  regards 
girls.  There  was  a  German  saying  that  the 
wardrobe  was  the  library  of  women,  and  a 
French  proverb  that  girls  should  be  kept  either 
within  the  four  evangelists  or  four  walls.  It  is 
not  so  long  since  it  was  thought  that  neither 
poor  people  on  the  one  hand,  nor  gentlemen 
on  the  other,  had  anything  to  do  with  edu- 
cation. It  was  supposed  to  be  a  mere  mat- 
ter for  priests  and  monks.  The  very  word 
"clerk"  conveys  this  idea. 

Even  so  wise  and  good  a  man  as  Dr.  John- 
son laid  it  down  almost  as  a  self-evident 
axiom,  that  if  every  one  learnt  to  read  it 
would  be  impossible  to  find  any  one  who 
would  do  the  manual  work  of  the  world.  Dr. 
Johnson  was  a  great  literary  authority,  and 
did  not  realise  the  dignity  of  labour. 

That  was  one  stage.  A  second  was  that 
education  had  special  reference  to  the  business 
of  life.  That  it  was  necessary  to  be  careful  lest 
children  should  be  raised  above  their  station. 
That  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  only, 
were  necessary  for  poor  children,  —  reading 


vi  NATIONAL   EDUCATION  97 

and  writing  for  the  details  of  business,  and 
arithmetic  in  order  to  keep  accounts. 

This  view  was  extended  to  all  departments 
of  business.  Lord  Eldon  is  reported  to  have 
selected  his  bankers  (who  must  have  been  very 
different  from  the  present  members  of  the 
firm)  because,  he  said,  they  were  the  stupidest 
bankers  in  London,  and  that  if  he  could  find 
any  stupider  he  would  move  his  account. 
Hazlitt  maintained  that  boys  who  were  in- 
tended for  business  should  not  be  taught  any- 
thing else.  Any  one,  he  said,  "will  make 
money  if  he  has  no  other  idea  in  his  head." 

That  is  the  second  stage. 

Now  we  advocate  Education,  not  merely  to 
make  the  man  the  better  workman,  but  the 
workman  the  better  man.  Victor  Hugo  well 
said  that  "he  who  opens  a  school,  closes  a 
prison." 

"  Most  of  our  children,"  said  a  Swiss  states- 
man, "  are  born  to  poverty,  but  we  take  care 
that  they  shall  not  grow  up  to  ignorance." 
We  also,  in  England,  are  now  beginning  to 
appreciate  the  importance  of  education.  Gray 
could  not  now  say  of  our  rural  population  that 


98  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

"...  Knowledge  to  their  eyes  her  ample  page, 

Bich  with  the  spoils  of  time  did  ne'er  unroll ; 
Chill  penury  repressed  their  noble  rage 
And  froze  the  genial  current  of  the  soul." 

Matthew  Arnold  tells  us  in  his  Culture  and 
Anarchy  that  there  are  still  many  who  think 
that  culture  and  sweetness  and  light  are  all 
moonshine.  But  this  was  written  in  1869. 

The  year  1870,  the  year  of  the  passing  of 
the  Education  Act,  was  a  most  important 
epoch  in  the  social  history  of  our  country. 
At  that  time  the  number  of  children  in  our 
elementary  schools  was  1,400,000.  It  is  now 
over  5,000,000.  And  what  has  been  the  re- 
sult ?  First  let  me  take  the  criminal  statis- 
tics. Up  to  1887  the  number  of  persons  in 
prison  showed  a  tendency  to  increase.  In 
that  year  the  average  number  was  20,800. 
Since  then  it  has  steadily  decreased,  and  now 
is  only  13,000.  It  has,  therefore,  diminished 
in  round  numbers  by  one-third.  But  we 
must  remember  that  the  population  has  been 
steadily  increasing.  Since  1870  it  has  in- 
creased by  one-third.  If  our  criminals  had 
increased  in  the  same  proportion,  they  would 


vi  NATIONAL   EDUCATION  99 

have  been  28,000  instead  of  13,000,  or  more 
than  double.  In  that  case  then,  our  expendi- 
ture on  police  and  prisons  would  have  been  at 
least  £8,000,000  instead  of  £4,000,000.  In 
juvenile  crime  the  decrease  is  even  more  satis- 
factory. In  1856  the  number  of  young  per- 
sons committed  for  indictable  offences  was 
14,000.  In  1866  it  had  fallen  to  10,000  ;  in 
1876  to  7000  ;  in  1881  to  6000 ;  and,  according 
to  the  last  figures  I  have  been  able  to  obtain, 
to  5100.  Turning  to  poor-rate  statistics  we 
find  that  in  1870  the  number  of  paupers  to 
every  thousand  of  the  population  was  over 
47.  It  had  been  as  high  as  52.  Since  then 
it  has  fallen  to  22,  and  in  a  parenthesis  I 
may  say  I  am  proud  to  find  that  in  the 
metropolis  we  are  substantially  below  the 
average.  The  proportion,  therefore,  is  less 
than  one-half  of  what  it  used  to  be.  Our 
annual  expenditure  on  the  poor  from  rates  is 
£8,000,000,  and,  supposing  it  had  remained 
at  the  former  rate,  it  would  have  been  over 
£16,000,000,  or  £8,000,000  more  than  the 
present  amount.  If,  then,  we  were  now  pay- 
ing at  the  same  rate  as  twenty  years  ago, 


100  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

the  cost  of  our  criminals  would  have  been 
£4,000,000  more  than  it  is,  and  our  poor-rate 
£8,000,000  larger. 

I  may  add  that  the  statistics  of  the  worst 
crimes  are  even  more  remarkable  and  satis- 
factory. The  yearly  average  of  persons  sen- 
tenced to  penal  servitude  in  the  five  years 
ending  in  1864  was  2800,  and  that  number 
has  steadily  fallen,  being  for  last  year  only 
729,  or  but  one  quarter,  notwithstanding  the 
increase  of  population.  In  fact  eight  of  our 
convict  prisons  have  become  unnecessary,  and 
have  been  applied  to  other  purposes. 

As  showing  the  close  connection  of  crime 
and  ignorance,  I  may  also  observe  that  ac- 
cording to  the  last  returns  which  I  have  been 
able  to  obtain,  out  of  157,000  persons  com- 
mitted to  prison  there  were  only  5000  who 
could  read  and  write  well,  and  only  250  who 
were  what  could  be  called  educated  persons. 

The  following  table1  illustrates  in  a  strik- 
ing manner  the  great  and  progressive  decrease 
in  the  number  of  sentences  for  serious  crime, 
and  it  will  be  seen  that  the  figures  are  all  the 

1  Rep.  of  the  Dir.  of  Convict  Prisons,  1893. 


NATIONAL  EDUCATION- 


101 


more  striking  because,. while  $he 

criminals  has  been  falling,  the  population,  on 

the  other  hand,  has  been  rapidly  rising :  — 


Yearly  average  number  of  persons  sentenced  on 
indictment  to  penal  servitude  in  England  and 
Wales. 


During  5  years  ending  — 
31st  December  1859 

2589 

19,257,000 

Do            1864 

2800 

20,370,000 

Do             1869 

1978 

21,681,000 

Do.           1874     
Do            1879     

1622 
1633 

23,088,000 
24,700,000 

Do            1884     .          ... 

1427 

26,313,251 

Do             1889                    .     . 

945 

27,830,179 

Do             1892 

791 

29,055,550 

Estimated 

average 

population  of 

England  and 

Wales. 


It  will  not,  however,  I  hope,  be  supposed 
that  I  should  look  at  the  question  as  a  mere 
matter  of  £  s.  d.  I  have  only  referred  to 
this  consideration  as  a  reply  to  them  who 
object  on  the  score  of  expense. 

Of  course,  I  am  aware  that  various  allow- 
ances would  have  to  be  made,  that  other 
circumstances  have  to  be  taken  into  consider- 
ation, and  that  these  figures  cannot  claim  any 


102  .WT?BL.UTSJE    OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

Scientific-; accuracy ;  «at  fche  same  time  they 
are  interesting  and  very  satisfactory. 

The  fact  is  that  only  a  fraction  of  the  crime 
of  the  country  arises  from  deliberate  wicked- 
ness or  irresistible  temptation ;  the  great 
sources  of  crime  are  drink  and  ignorance. 
The  happy  results  which  have  been  obtained 
are  due,  not  only  to  the  good  which  the  chil- 
dren learn  in  school,  the  habits  of  cleanliness 
and  order  which  they  acquire,  but  to  the  fact 
that  they  are  not  learning  the  evil  lessons  of 
the  streets,  but  are  protected  from  the  fatal 
teaching  and  example  of  the  criminal  and 
the  loafer. 

We  are  beginning  then  to  feel  the  advan- 
tage of  Education  in  the  diminution  of  the 
poor-rate1  and  the  emptying  of  our  prisons, 
showing  the  diminution  of  paupers  and  crim- 
inals, and  especially,  I  may  add,  of  juvenile 
crime. 

It  may,  however,  well  be  doubted  whether 
we  have  yet  devised  the  best  system  of  educa- 
tion. There  are  three  great  questions  which 

1  Of  course  I  am  here  speaking  of  the  rate  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  poor.  Many  other  expenses  are  included  in  what 
is  technically  called  the  "poor-rate." 


vi  NATIONAL   EDUCATION  103 

in  life  we  have  over  and  over  again  to  answer. 
Is  it  right  or  wrong  ?  Is  it  true  or  false  ?  Is 
it  beautiful  or  ugly  ?  Our  education  ought 
to  help  us  to  answer  these  questions. 

Nearly  two  centuries  ago  Bacon  spoke  of 
those  who  "  call  upon  men  to  sell  their  books 
and  buy  furnaces,  forsaking  Minerva  and  the 
Muses  as  barren  virgins,  and  relying  upon 
Vulcan."  We  must  not  forsake  Minerva  and 
the  Muses,  but  yet  we  have  never  sufficiently 
based  our  education  on  the  Bible  of  Nature. 

Reading  and  Writing,  Arithmetic  and  Gram- 
mar do  not  constitute  Education,  any  more 
than  a  knife,  fork,  and  spoon  constitute  a  din- 
ner. Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  could  neither 
read  nor  write,  and  probably  were  quite  igno- 
rant of  the  rule  of  three. 

I  have  been  often  accused  of  attacking  clas- 
sical education.  This,  however,  I  have  never 
done.  The  Classics  are  a  most  important 
part  of  education,  which  it  would  be  absurd 
to  undervalue  or  neglect,  but  they  are  not 
the  whole,  and  our  Education,  as  Charles 
Buxton  observed,  "  too  often  consists  in  merely 
learning  the  words  which  dead  gentlemen  of 


104  THE  USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

2000  years  ago  would  have  used."  To  neg- 
lect other  subjects  is,  to  use  Cicero's  meta- 
phor, as  if  a  man  took  care  of  his  right  side 
only,  and  neglected  the  left.  Much  of  our 
so-called  classical  education  is,  however,  not 
even  classical.  So  much  attention  and  time 
are  devoted  to  the  grammar,  that  the  sense 
of  the  Classical  writers  is  lost.  It  is,  in  fact, 
a  branch  of  Science,  viz.  Grammar,  —  not, 
however,  always  taught  scientifically,  or  in 
the  most  interesting  manner.  Moreover,  in 
our  present  system  our  boys  are  not  taught 
to  speak  Latin  or  Greek ;  and  as  a  climax  of 
absurdity,  as  a  last  precaution  to  render  the 
instruction  as  useless  as  possible,  they  are 
trained  to  pronounce  the  words  very  differ- 
ently from  the  Romans  or  Greeks  themselves, 
or  indeed  for  the  people  of  any  other  country, 
and  even  from  the  Scotch. 

The  system  fails  to  give  any  love  of  Classi- 
cal literature.  Thackeray,  in  his  notes  of  a 
journey  from  Cornhill  to  Cairo,  imagines  the 
Greek  Muse  coming  to  him  and  asking  if  he 
were  not  charmed  to  find  himself  at  Athens, 
to  which  he  replies  with  more  truth  than 


vi  NATIONAL   EDUCATION  105 

politeness,  "  Madam,  your  company  in  youth 
was  made  so  laboriously  disagreeable  to  me 
that  I  cannot  at  present  reconcile  myself  to 
you  in  age." 

But  important  as  they  are,  the  Classics  are 
only  one  side  of  Education.  The  very  ex- 
pression "  Literae  humaniores "  shows  how 
much  in  the  old  view  Education  should  be 
allied  to  human  sympathy  —  to  the  wider  kins- 
manship  which  unites  man  to  man.  Shake- 
speare, we  are  told,  had  "  small  Latin  and  less 
Greek."  Books,  even  with  all  the  help  they 
can  receive  from  meditation  and  discourse, 
can  supply  only  part  of  education.  The  boy 
who  has  studied  books  only,  who  knows  noth- 
ing of  Nature,  nothing  of  the  world  in  which 
we  live,  cannot  grow  into  a  whole  man  ;  he 
can  never  be  more  than  a  mere  fraction. 

It  has,  moreover,  been  justly  observed  that 
much  of  our  so-called  education  is  "  like  read- 
ing a  treatise  on  Botany  to  a  flower-bed,  to 
make  the  plants  grow."  l 

We  have  not  only  much  to  learn,  but  much 
to  unlearn. 

1  Guesses  at  Truth. 


106  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

While  making  these  remarks  I  am  far  in- 
deed from  being  ungrateful  to  schoolmasters. 
Theirs  is  a  most  laborious,  exhausting,  and 
responsible  profession.  Nothing  is  more  de- 
lightful than  playing  with  children.  To  teach 
them  is  a  different  matter. 

To  give  instruction  in  grammar  and  arith- 
metic is  perhaps  fairly  easy.  "  Yes,  this  is 
easy ;  but  to  help  the  young  soul,  add  energy, 
inspire  hope,  and  blow  the  coals  into  a  useful 
flame ;  to  redeem  defeat  by  new  thought,  by 
firm  action,  that  is  not  easy,  that  is  the  work 
of  divine  men."  1 

Education  is  not  intended  to  make  Lawyers 
or  Clergymen,  Soldiers  or  Schoolmasters, 
Farmers  or  Artisans,  but  Men..  "I  call  a 
complete  and  generous  education,"  said  Mil- 
ton, "that  which  fits  a  man  to  perform 
justly,  skilfully,  and  magnanimously  all  the 
offices,  both  private  and  public,  of  peace  and 
war." 

Philosophers  have  always  been  too  ready 
to  suppose  that  questions  of  fact  can  be 
settled  by  verbal  considerations.  Plutarch 

1  Emerson. 


vi  NATIONAL   EDUCATION  107 

has  an  amusing  discussion  on  the  question, 
Which  came  first  ?  the  Hen  or  the.  Egg  ? 
and  one  consideration  brought  forward  is 
that  the  hen  came  first,  because  every  one 
speaks  of  a  hen's  egg  and  no  one  says  an 
egg's  hen. 

It  cannot  be  right  to  let  our  children  grow 
up,  so  that 

"  Unknown  to  them  the  subtle  skill 

With  which  the  artist  eye  can  trace 
In  rock  and  tree,  and  lake  and  hill, 
The  outlines  of  divinest  grace." l 

"  If  any  imagine,"  says  Jefferies,  "  that 
they  will  find  thought  in  many  books,  they 
will  be  disappointed.  Thought  dwells  by 
the  stream  and  sea,  by  the  hill  and  in  the 
woodland,  in  the  sunlight  and  free  wind." 
Unfortunately,  however,  the  streams  and 
sea,  the  forests  and  sunlight  and  fresh  air, 
are  less  accessible  to  us  than  we  could  wish. 
Moreover,  thought  no  doubt  dwells  in  books 
too.  But  they  must  be  used  with  judgment. 
Language  is  a  very  imperfect  instrument  of 
expression.  It  is  not  every  boy  that  grows 

i  Whittier. 


108  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

into  a  man.  Even  the  truths  of  Arithmetic 
must  be  used  with  caution. 

It  is  probably  from  the  defects  in  our 
system,  which  I  have  just  alluded  to,  that 
so  many  fail  to  carry  on  any  systematic  self- 
education  after  leaving  school.  No  doubt 
we  go  on  learning  as  long  as  we  live  :  "  Live 
and  learn,"  says  the  old  proverb  ;  but  the 
question  is  whether  we  learn  in  a  haphazard 
manner  scraps  of  information  which  we  light 
on  in  a  newspaper  or  in  a  novel ;  or  whether 
we  carry  on  anything  which  can  fairly  be 
called  self -training  and  education. 

I  have  elsewhere 1  given  the  views  of  one 
high  authority  as  to  what  might  reasonably 
be  expected,  and  will  here  quote  the  very 
similar  opinion  given  by  Professor  Huxley  :  — 

"  Such  education  should  enable  an  average 
boy  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  to  read  and  write 
his  own  language  with  ease  and  accuracy, 
and  with  a  sense  of  literary  excellence  de- 
rived from  the  study  of  our  classic  writers : 
to  have  a  general  acquaintance  with  the  his- 
tory of  his  own  country  and  with  the  great 

1  The  Pleasures  of  Life. 


vi  NATIONAL   EDUCATION  109 

laws  of  social  existence,  to  have  acquired  the 
rudiments  of  the  physical  and  psychological 
sciences,  and  a  fair  knowledge  of  elementary 
arithmetic  and  geometry.  He  should  have 
obtained  an  acquaintance  with  logic  rather 
by  example  than  by  precept;  while  the  ac- 
quirements of  the  elements  of  music  and 
drawing  should  have  been  pleasure  rather 
than  work." 

Such  information  is  most  interesting. 
Many  of  us  have  felt  with  John  Hunter,  the 
great  anatomist,  and  could  say  that  "  As  a 
boy,  I  wanted  to  know  about  the  clouds  and 
the  grasses,  and  why  the  leaves  changed 
colour  in  the  Autumn.  I  watched  the  Ants, 
Bees,  Birds,  Tadpoles,  and  Caddis  Worms ; 
I  pestered  people  with  questions  about  what 
nobody  knew  or  cared  anything  about." 

"  I  will  only,"  observes  Locke  in  his  treatise 
on  Education,  "  say  this  one  thing  concern- 
ing books,  that  however  it  has  got  the  name, 
yet  converse  with  books  is  not,  in  my  opinion, 
the  principal  part  of  study ;  there  are  two 
others  which  ought  to  be  joined  with  it,  each 
whereof  contributes  their  share  to  our  im- 


110  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP,  vi 

provement  in  knowledge ;  and  those  are 
meditation  and  discourse.  Reading,  me- 
thinks,  is  but  collecting  the  rough  materials, 
amongst  which  a  great  deal  must  be  laid 
aside  as  useless.  Meditation  is,  as  it  were, 
choosing  and  fitting  the  materials,  framing 
the  timbers,  squaring  and  laying  the  stones, 
and  raising  the  buildings ;  and  discourse  with 
a  friend  (for  wrangling  in  a  dispute  is  of  little 
use)  is,  as  it  were,  surveying  the  structure, 
walking  in  the  rooms,  and  observing  the 
symmetry  and  agreement  of  the  parts,  tak- 
ing notice  of  the  solidity  or  defects  of  the 
works,  and  the  best  way  to  find  out  and 
correct  what  is  amiss ;  besides  that  it  helps 
often  to  discover  truths,  and  fix  them  in  our 
minds  as  much  as  either  of  the  other  two." 


CHAPTER   VII 

SELF-EDUCATION 

EDUCATION  is  the  harmonious  development 
of  all  our  faculties.  It  begins  in  the  nursery, 
and  goes  on  at  school,  but  does  not  end  there. 
It  continues  through  life,  whether  we  will  or 
not.  The  only  question  is  whether  what  we 
learn  in  after  life  is  wisely  chosen  or  picked 
up  haphazard.  "  Every  person,"  says  Gibbon, 
"  has  two  educations,  one  which  he  receives 
from  others,  and  one  more  important,  which 
he  gives  himself." 

What  we  teach  ourselves  must  indeed 
always  be  more  useful  than  what  we  learn  of 
others.  "  Nobody,"  said  Locke,  "  ever  went 
far  in  knowledge,  or  became  eminent  in  any 
of  the  Sciences,  by  the  discipline  and  restraint 
of  a  Master." 

You  cannot,  even  if  you  would,  keep  your 
111 


112  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

heart  empty  swept  and  garnished ;  the  only 
question  is  whether  you  will  prepare  it  for 
good  or  evil. 

Those  who  have  not  distinguished  them- 
selves at  school  need  not  on  that  account  be 
discouraged.  The  greatest  minds  do  not 
necessarily  ripen  the  quickest.  If,  indeed, 
you  have  not  taken  pains,  then,  though  I  will 
not  say  that  you  should  be  discouraged,  still 
you  should  be  ashamed ;  but  if  you  have  done 
your  best,  you  have  only  to  persevere  ;  and 
many  of  those  who  have  never  been  able  to 
distinguish  themselves  at  school,  have  been 
very  successful  in  after  life.  We  are  told 
that  Wellington  and  Napoleon  were  both  dull 
boys,  and  the  same  is  said  to  have  been  the 
case  with  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  Dean  Swift, 
Clive,  Sir  Walter  Scott,  Sheridan,  Burns,  and 
many  other  eminent  men. 

Evidently  then  it  does  not  follow  that  those 
who  have  distinguished  themselves  least  at 
school  have  benefited  least. 

Genius  has  been  described  as  "an  infinite 
capacity  for  taking  pains,"  which  is  not  very 
far  from  the  truth.  As  Lilly  quaintly  says, 


VII 


SELF-EDUCATION  113 


"  If  Nature  plays  not  her  part,  in  vain  is 
Labour ;  yet  if  Studie  be  not  employed,  in 
vain  is  Nature." 

On  the  other  hand,  many  brilliant  and 
clever  boys,  for  want  of  health,  industry,  or 
character,  have  unfortunately  been  failures  in 
after  life,  as  Goethe  said,  "  like  plants  which 
bear  double  flowers,  but  no  fruit  ; "  and  have 
sunk  to  driving  a  cab,  shearing  sheep  in  Aus- 
tralia, or  writing  for  a  bare  subsistence ;  while 
the  comparatively  slow  but  industrious  and 
high-principled  boys  have  steadily  risen  and 
filled  honourable  positions  with  credit  to  them- 
selves and  advantage  to  their  country. 

Doubts  as  to  the  value  of  education  have 
in  some  cases  arisen,  as  Dr.  Arnold  says,  from 
"that  strange  confusion  between  ignorance 
and  innocence  with  which  many  people  seem 
to  solace  themselves.  Whereas,  if  you  take 
away  a  man's  knowledge,  you  do  not  bring 
him  to  the  state  of  an  infant,  but  to  that  of 
a  brute ;  and  of  one  of  the  most  mischievous 
and  malignant  of  the  brute  creation," l  for, 
as  he  points  out  elsewhere,  if  men  neglect 

1  Arnold's  Christian  Life. 


114  THE  USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

that  which  should  be  the  guide  of  their  lives, 
they  become  the  slaves  of  their  passions,  and 
are  left  with  the  evils  of  both  ages — the  igno- 
rance of  the  Child,  and  the  vices  of  the  Man. 

No  one  whose  Education  was  well  started 
at  school  would  let  it  stop.  It  is  a  very  low 
view  of  Education  to  suppose  that  we  should 
study  merely  to  serve  a  paltry  convenience, 
that  we  should  confine  it  to  what  the  Germans 
call  "bread  and  butter"  studies. 

The  object  of  a  wise  education  is  in  the 
words  of  Solomon  — 

"  To  know  wisdom  and  instruction ; 
To  perceive  the  words  of  understanding ; 
To  receive  the  instruction  of  wisdom, 
Justice,  and  judgment,  and  equity ; 
To  give  subtlety  to  the  simple, 
To  the  young  man  knowledge  and  discretion."  l 

A  man,  says  Thoreau,  "  will  go  considerably 
out  of  his  way  to  pick  up  a  silver  dollar;  but 
here  are  golden  words,  which  the  wisest  Men 
of  Antiquity  have  uttered,  and  whose  worth 
the  wise  of  every  succeeding  age  have  assured 
us  of." 

1  Proverbs. 


vii  SELF-EDUCATION  115 

A  sad  French  proverb  says,  "  Si  jeunesse 
savait,  si  viellesse  pouvait ;  "  and  a  wise  edu- 
cation will  tend  to  provide  us  with  both  requi- 
sites, with  knowledge  in  youth  and  strength 
in  age.  Experience,  said  Franklin,  "  is  a  dear 
school,  but  fools  will  learn  in  no  other." 

It  is  half  the  battle  to  make  a  good  start 
in  life. 

"  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go ; 
And  when  he  is  old,  he  will  not  depart  from  it." 

Begin  well,  and  it  will  be  easier  and  easier 
as  you  go  on.  On  the  other  hand,  if  you 
make  a  false  start  it  is  far  from  easy  to  re- 
trieve your  position.  It  is  difficult  to  learn, 
but  still  more  difficult  to  unlearn. 

Try  to  fix  in  your  mind  what  is  best  in 
books,  in  men,  in  ideas,  and  in  institutions. 
We  need  not  be  ashamed  if  others  know  more 
than  we  do ;  but  we  ought  to  be  ashamed  if 
we  have  not  learnt  all  we  can. 

Education  does  not  consist  merely  in  study- 
ing languages  and  learning  a  number  of  facts. 
It  is  something  very  different  from,  and 
higher  than,  mere  instruction.  Instruction 


116  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

stores  up  for  future  use,  but  education  sows 
seed  which  will  bear  fruit,  some  thirty,  some 
sixty,  some  one  hundred  fold. 

"  Wisdom  is  the  principal  thing ;  therefore  get  wis- 
dom: 
And  with  all  thy  getting  get  understanding."  l 

Knowledge  is  admittedly  very  inferior  to 
wisdom,  but  yet  I  must  say  that  she  has  some- 
times received  very  scant  justice.  We  are 
told,  for  instance,  that 

"  Knowledge  is  proud  that  she  has  learnt  so  much ; 
Wisdom  is  humble  that  she  knows  no  more." 2 

But  this  is  not  so.  Those  who  have  learnt 
most,  are  best  able  to  realise  how  little  they 
know. 

Even  Bishop  Butler  tells  us  that  "  Men  of 
deep  research  and  curious  inquiry  should  just 
be  put  in  mind,  not  to  mistake  what  they  are 
doing.  If  their  discoveries  serve  the  cause 
of  virtue  and  religion,  in  the  way  of  proof, 
motive  to  practice,  or  assistance  in  it ;  or  if 
they  tend  to  render  life  less  unhappy,  and 
promote  its  satisfactions ;  then  they  are  most 

1  Proverbs.  2  Cowper. 


vii  SELF-EDUCATION  117 

usefully  employed :  but  bringing  things  to 
light,  alone  and  of  itself,  is  of  no  manner  of 
use,  any  otherwise  than  as  an  entertainment 
or  diversion." 

It  has  again  been  unjustly  said  that  knowl- 
edge is 

"  A  rude  unprofitable  mass, 

The  mere  materials  with  which  wisdom  builds." 

He  would  be  a  poor  architect,  however,  who 
was  careless  in  the  choice  of  materials,  and 
no  one  can  say  what  the  effect  of  "  bringing 
things  to  light "  may  be.  Many  steps  in 
knowledge,  which  at  the  time  seemed  practi- 
cally useless,  have  proved  most  valuable. 

Knowledge  is  power.  "  Knowledge  of  the 
electric  telegraph  saves  time;  knowledge  of 
writing  saves  human  speech  and  locomotion ; 
knowledge  of  domestic  economy  saves  income  ; 
knowledge  of  sanitary  laws  saves  health  and 
life ;  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  the  intellect 
saves  wear  and  tear  of  brain ;  and  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  the  Spirit  —  what  does  it  not 
save?"1 

"  For  direct  self-preservation,"  says  Herbert 

1  Kingsley. 


118  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

Spencer,  "or  the  maintenance  of  life  and 
health,  the  all-important  knowledge  is  — 
Science ;  for  that  indirect  self-preservation 
which  we  call  gaining  a  livelihood,  the  knowl- 
edge of  greatest  value  is  —  Science.  For  the 
due  discharge  of  parental  functions,  the  proper 
guidance  is  to  be  found  only  in  —  Science. 
For  that  interpretation  of  national  life,  past 
and  present,  without  which  the  citizen  cannot 
rightly  regulate  his  conduct,  the  indispensable 
key  is — Science.  Alike  for  the  most  perfect 
production  and  highest  enjoyment  of  Art  in 
all  its  forms,  the  needful  preparation  is  still 
—  Science.  And  for  purposes  of  discipline  — 
intellectual,  moral,  religious  —  the  most  effi- 
cient study  is,  once  more  —  Science." 

"  When  I  look  back,"  says  Dr.  Fitch,  "  on 
my  own  life,  and  think  on  the  long  past 
school  and  college  days,  I  know  well  that 
there  is  not  a  fact  in  history,  not  a  formula  in 
mathematics,  not  a  rule  in  grammar,  not  a 
sweet  and  pleasant  verse  of  poetry,  not  a 
truth  in  science  which  I  ever  learned,  which 
has  not  come  to  me  over  and  over  again  in 
the  most  unexpected  ways,  and  proved  to  be 


vii  SELF-EDUCATION  119 

of  greater  use  than  I  could  ever  have  believed. 
It  has  helped  me  to  understand  better  the 
books  I  read,  the  history  of  events  which  are 
occurring  round  me,  and  to  make  the,  whole 
outlook  of  life  larger  and  more  interesting." 

Lastly,  I  will  quote  Dean  Stanley.  "  Pure 
love  of  truth,"  he  says,  "  how  very  rare  and 
yet  how  very  beneficent !  We  do  not  see  its 
merits  at  once :  we  do  not  perceive,  perhaps, 
in  this  or  the  next  generation,  how  widely 
happiness  is  increased  in  the  world  by  the 
discoveries  of  men  of  science,  who  have  pur- 
sued them  simply  and  solely  because  they 
were  attracted  towards  them  by  their  single- 
minded  love  of  what  was  true."  1  Well  then 
may  Solomon  say  that 

"  A  wise  man  will  hear,  and  will  increase  learning." 2 

There  is  hardly  any  piece  of  information 
which  will  not  corne  in  useful,  hardly  any- 
thing which  is  not  worth  seeing  at  least 
once.  There  are  in  reality  no  little  things, 
only  little  minds. 

"Knowledge  is  like  the  mystic  ladder  in 

1  Stanley's  Life.  2  Proverbs. 


120  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

the  Patriarch's  dream.  Its  base  rests  on  the 
primeval  earth  —  its  crest  is  lost  in  the 
shadowy  splendour  of  the  empyrean ;  while 
the  great  authors  who  for  traditionary  ages 
have  held  the  chain  of  science  and  philosophy, 
of  poesy  and  erudition,  are  the  angels  ascend- 
ing and  descending  the  sacred  scale,  and 
maintaining,  as  it  were,  the  communication 
between  earth  and  heaven."  l 

It  is  sad,  however,  to  remember  in  how 
many  cases  the  authors  of  great  discoveries 
are  unknown ;  sad,  not  on  their  account,  but 
because  we  should  wish  to  remember  them 
with  gratitude.  Great  discoverers  have  sel- 
dom worked  for  themselves,  or  for  the  sake 
of  fame. 

"For  Truth  with  tireless  zeal  they  sought; 
In  joyless  paths  they  trod : 
Heedless  of  praise  or  blame  they  wrought, 
And  left  the  rest  to  God. 

"  But  though  their  names  no  poet  wove 
In  deathless  song  or  story, 
Their  record  is  inscribed  above; 
Their  wreaths  are  crowns  of  glory." r* 

1  Lord  Beaconsfield.  2  Dewart. 


vii  SELF-EDUCATION  121 

Attention  and  application  to  your  studies 
are  absolutely  necessary  to  the  enjoyment  of 
life.  If  you  give  only  half  your  mind  to  what 
you  are  doing,  it  will  cost  you  twice  as  much 
labour. 

It  is  sad  to  think  how  little  intellectual 
enjoyment  has  yet  added  to  the  happiness  of 
Man,  and  yet  the  very  word  school  (o^oX-ty) 
meant  originally  rest  or  enjoyment.  It  is 
most  important,  says  Mr.  J.  Morley,  "both 
for  happiness  and  for  duty,  that  we  should 
habitually  live  with  wise  thoughts  and  right 
feelings." 

The  brain  of  Man  should  be 

"  The  Dome  of  thought,  the  Palace  of  the  Soul." J 
We  are,  says  Donne, 

"  We  are  but  farmers  of  ourselves,  yet  may, 
If  we  can  stock  ourselves  and  thrive,  uplay 
Much  good  treasure  for  the  great  rent  day." 

There  is  much  in  the  creed  of  Positivists 
with  which  I  cannot  agree,  but  they  have  a 
noble  motto  —  "  L' amour  pour  principe,  1'or- 
dre  pour  base,  et  le  progres  pour  but." 

1  Byron. 


122  THE   USE    OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

There  are,  however,  says  Emerson,  many 
"innocent  men  who  worship  God  after  the 
tradition  of  their  fathers,  but  whose  sense  of 
duty  has  not  extended  to  the  use  of  all  their 
faculties." 

Man  measures  everything  by  himself.  The 
greatest  mountain  heights,  and  the  depth  of 
the  ocean,  in  feet ;  our  very  system  of  arith- 
metical notation  is  founded  on  the  number  of 
our  fingers.  And  yet  what  poor  creatures  we 
are !  What  poor  creatures  we  are,  and  how 
great  we  might  be !  What  is  a  man  ?  and 
what  is  a  man  not  ? 

A  man,  says  Pascal,  is  "  res  cogitans,  id 
est  dubitans,  affirmans,  negens,  pauca  intelli- 
gens,  multa  ignorans,  volens,  nolens,  imagi- 
nans  etiam,  et  sentiens." 

Man,  he  says  elsewhere,  "  is  but  a  reed,  the 
feeblest  thing  in  Nature  ;  but  he  is  a  reed  that 
thinks  (un  roseau  pensant).  It  needs  not  that 
the  Universe  arm  itself  to  crush  him.  An 
exhalation,  a  drop  of  water,  suffices  to  destroy 
him.  But  were  the  Universe  to  crush  him, 
Man  is  yet  nobler  than  the  Universe,  for  he 
knows  that  he  dies ;  and  the  Universe,  even 


vii  SELF-EDUCATION  123 

in  prevailing  against  him,  knows  not  its 
power." 

What  qualities  are  essential  for  the  perfect- 
ing of  a  human  being  ?  A  cool  head,  a  warm 
heart,  a  sound  judgment,  and  a  healthy  body. 
Without  a  cool  head  we  are  apt  to  form  hasty 
conclusions,  without  a  warm  heart  we  are 
sure  to  be  selfish,  without  a  sound  body  we 
can  do  but  little,  while  even  the  best  inten- 
tions without  sound  judgment  may  do  more 
harm  than  good. 

If  we  wish  to  praise  a  friend  we  say  that 
he  is  a  perfect  gentleman.  What  is  it  to  be 
a  gentleman  ?  asked  Thackeray,  "  is  it  to  be 
honest,  to  be  gentle,  to  be  brave,  to  be  wise  ; 
and  possessing  all  these  qualities,  to  exercise 
them  in  the  most  graceful  outward  manner  ?" 
A  gentleman,  he  adds,  "  is  a  rarer  thing  than 
some  of  us  think  for."  Kings  can  give  titles, 
but  they  cannot  make  gentlemen.  We  can 
all,  however,  be  noble  if  we  choose. 

"  That  man,"  says  Archdeacon  Farrar,  "  ap- 
proaches most  nearly  to  such  perfection  as  is 
attainable  in  human  life  whose  body  has  been 
kept  in  vigorous  health  by  temperance,  so- 


124  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

berness,  and  chastity ;  whose  mind  is  a  rich 
storehouse  of  the  wisdom  learned  both  from 
experience  and  from  the  noblest  thoughts 
which  his  fellow- men  have  uttered ;  whose 
imagination  is  a  picture  gallery  of  all  things 
pure  and  beautiful ;  whose  conscience  is  at 
peace  with  itself,  with  God,  and  with  all  the 
world,  and  in  whose  spirit  the  Divine  Spirit 
finds  a  fitting  temple  wherein  to  dwell." 

The  true  method  of  self-education,  says 
John  Stuart  Mill,  is  "  to  question  all  things  : 
never  to  turn  away  from  any  difficulty ;  to 
accept  no  doctrine  either  from  ourselves  or 
from  other  people  without  a  rigid  scrutiny  by 
negative  criticism ;  letting  no  fallacy  or  in- 
coherence or  confusion  of  thought,  step  by 
unperceived ;  above  all,  to  insist  upon  having 
the  meaning  of  a  word  clearly  understood 
before  using  it,  and  the  meaning  of  a  preposi- 
tion before  assenting  to  it :  —  these  are  the 
lessons  we  learn."  And  these  lessons  we 
might  all  learn. 

In  the  earlier  stages  of  Education  at  any 
rate  all  men  might  be  equal ;  neither  rank 
nor  wealth  give  any  substantial  advantage. 


vii  SELF-EDUCATION  125 

Sir  W.  Jones  said  of  himself  that  with 
the  fortune  of  a  peasant,  he  gave  himself  the 
education  of  a  prince.  It  was  long  ago  re- 
marked that  there  was  no  royal  road  to  learn- 
ing :  or  rather  perhaps  it  might  more  truly 
be  said  that  all  roads  are  royal.  And  how 
great  is  the  prize !  Education  lights  up  the 
History  of  the  World  and  makes  it  one  bright 
path  of  progress ;  it  enables  us  to  appreciate 
the  literature  of  the  world ;  it  opens  for  us 
the  book  of  Nature,  and  creates  sources  of 
interest  wherever  we  find  ourselves. 

And  if  we  cannot  hope  that  it  should  ever 
be  said  of  us  that 

"  He  was  a  man,  take  him  for  all  in  all, 
I  shall  not  look  upon  his  like  again,"  l 

it  might  at  any  rate  be  true  that 

"  He  hath  a  daily  beauty  in  his  life," 

for  have  we  not  all  immortal  longings  in  us  ? 
If  Education  has  not  been  in  all  cases  suc- 
cessful, this  has  been  the  fault  not  of  educa- 
tion itself,  but  of  the  spirit  in  which  it  has 
been  too  often  undertaken.     "  For  men  have 

1  Shakespeare. 


126  THE   USE    OF   LIFE  CHAP,  vn 

entered  into  a  desire  of  learning  and  knowl- 
edge sometimes  upon  a  natural  curiosity  and 
inquisitive  appetite,  sometimes  to  entertain 
their  minds  with  variety  and  delight,  some- 
times for  ornament  and  reputation,  but  seldom 
sincerely  to  give  a  true  account  of  their  gift 
of  reason  to  the  benefit  and  use  of  men.  As 
if  there  were  sought  in  knowledge  a  couch 
whereupon  to  rest  a  searching  and  restless 
spirit ;  or  a  terrace  for  a  wandering  and  vari- 
able mind  to  walk  up  and  down  with  a  fair 
prospect ;  or  a  tower  of  state  for  a  proud 
mind  to  rest  itself  upon ;  or  a  fort  or  com- 
manding ground  for  strife  and  contention ;  or 
a  shop  of  profit  or  sale,  and  not  a  rich  store- 
house for  the  glory  of  the  Creator  and  the 
relief  of  man's  estate."  * 

1  Bacon. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

ON    LIBRARIES 

A  GREAT  countryman  of  ours,  Richard  de 
Bury,  Bishop  of  Durham,  writing  in  praise  of 
books  more  than  five  hundred  years  ago,  well 
said :  "  These  are  the  masters  who  instruct 
us  without  rods  and  ferules,  without  hard 
words  and  anger,  without  clothes  or  money. 
If  you  approach  them,  they  are  not  asleep ; 
if,  investigating,  you  interrogate  them,  they 
conceal  nothing  ;  if  you  mistake  them,  they 
never  grumble ;  if  you  are  ignorant,  they  can- 
not laugh  at  you.  The  library,  therefore,  of 
wisdom  is  more  precious  than  all  riches,  and 
nothing  that  can  be  wished  for  is  worthy  to 
be  compared  with  it.  Whosoever,  therefore, 
acknowledges  himself  to  be  a  zealous  follower 
of  truth,  of  happiness,  of  wisdom,  of  science. 

127 


128  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

or  even  of  the  faith,  must  of  necessity  make 
himself  a  lover  of  books." 

And  if  he  could  say  this  with  truth  so  long 
ago,  how  much  more  may  we  do  so.  Let  us 
just  consider  how  much  better  off  we  are  than 
he  was  then.  In  the  first  place,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  advantages  of  print,  how  much 
cheaper  books  are.  For  the  price  of  a  little 
beer,  or  one  or  two  pipes  of  tobacco,  a  man 
can  buy  as  much  as  he  can  read  in  a  month ; 
in  his  day,  on  the  contrary,  books  were  very 
expensive.  Again,  while  our  books  are  small 
and  handy,  theirs  were  ponderous,  immense, 
very  inconvenient  either  to  hold  or  read. 
Even  our  most  learned  books  are  in  one  sense 
light  reading.  But,  what  is  far  more  im- 
portant, we  have  not  only  all  the  most  inter- 
esting books  which  De  Bury  could  command, 
but  many  more  also.  Even  of  ancient  litera- 
ture, much  had  been  lost  and  has  been  re- 
discovered. In  his  day  one  might  almost 
say  that  the  novel  was  unknown.  As  regards 
Poetry  he  lived  before  Shakespeare  or  Milton, 
Scott  or  Byron,  to  say  nothing  of  living  more 
recent  authors.  We  have  the  interesting  and 


vin  ON   LIBRARIES  129 

exciting  voyages  of  Captain  Cook,  Darwin, 
Humboldt,  and  many  other  great  travellers 
and  explorers.  In  science,  chemistry  and 
geology  have  been  created,  and  indeed  the 
progress  of  discovery  has  made  all  the  other 
sciences,  —  natural  history,  astronomy,  geog- 
raphy, etc.,  —  far  more  interesting. 

Schopenhauer  has  observed  that  though  his 
Science  never  brought  him  in  any  income,  it 
had  saved  him  a  great  deal  of  expense.  As 
a  nation,  we  must  gratefully  admit  that 
science  has  not  only  enormously  increased 
our  income,  but  has  greatly  reduced  our  ex- 
penditure in  various  ways.  Money  spent  on 
schools,  libraries,  and  museums  is  rather  an 
investment  than  an  expense.  We  do  not, 
however,  advocate  schools  and  Public  Libra- 
ries because  they  save  our  pockets,  but 
because  they  do  so  much  to  lighten  and 
brighten  the  lives  of  our  fellow-citizens. 
There  is  but  little  amusement  in  the  lives 
of  the  very  poor. 

I  have  been  good-humouredly  laughed  at 
more  than  once  for  having  expressed  the 
opinion  that  in  the  next  generation  the 


130  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

great   readers   would    be    our    artisans    and 
mechanics. 

Bat  is  not  the  continued  increase  of  Pub- 
lic Libraries  an  argument  in  support  of  my 
contention  ?  Before  a  Free  Library  can  be 
started  a  popular  vote  must  be  taken,  and 
we  know  that  the  clergy  and  the  lawyers, 
the  doctors  and  the  mercantile  men,  form 
but  a  small  fraction  of  the  voters.  The  Pub- 
lic Libraries  are  called  into  being  by  the 
artisan  and  the  small  shopkeeper,  and  it  is 
by  them  that  they  are  mainly  used.  Books 
are  peculiarly  necessary  to  the  working-men 
in  our  towns.  Their  life  is  one  of  much 
monotony.  The  savage  has  a  far  more 
varied  existence.  He  must  watch  the  habits 
of  the  game  he  hunts,  their  migrations  and 
feeding-grounds ;  he  must  know  where  and 
how  to  fish;  every  month  brings  him  some 
fresh  occupation  and  some  change  of  food. 
He  must  prepare  his  weapons  and  build  his 
own  house;  even  the  lighting  of  a  fire,  so 
easy  now,  is  to  him  a  matter  of  labour  and 
skill.  The  agricultural  labourer  turns  his 
hand  to  many  things.  He  ploughs  and  sows, 


vin  ON   LIBRARIES  131 

mows  and  reaps.  He  plants  at  one  season, 
uses  the  bill-hook  and  the  axe  at  another. 
He  looks  after  the  sheep  and  pigs  and  cows. 
To  hold  the  plough,  to  lay  a  fence,  or  tie  up 
a  sheaf,  is*  by  no  means  so  easy  as  it  looks. 
It  is  said  of  Wordsworth  that  a  stranger 
having  on  one  occasion  asked  to  see  his 
study,  the  maid  said :  "  This  is  master's 
room,  but  he  studies  in  the  fields."  The 
agricultural  labourer  learns  a  great  deal  in 
the  fields.  He  knows  much  more  than  we  give 
him  credit  for,  only  it  is  field-learning,  not 
book-learning  — and  none  the  worse  for  that. 
But  the  man  who  works  in  a  shop  or  man- 
ufactory has  a  much  more  monotonous  life. 
He  is  confined  to  one  process,  or,  perhaps, 
even  one  part  of  a  process,  from  year's  end 
to  year's  end.  He  acquires,  no  doubt,  a  skill 
little  short  of  miraculous,  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  very  narrow.  If  he  is  not  himself  to 
become  a  mere  animated  machine,  he  must 
generally  obtain,  and  in  some  cases  he  can 
only  obtain,  the  necessary  variety  and  inter- 
est from  the  use  of  books.  There  is  happily 
now  some  tendency  to  shorten  the  hours  of 


132  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

labour,  except,  indeed,  in  shops,  and  what  is 
less  satisfactory,  there  are  times  when  work 
is  slack.  But  the  hours  of  leisure  should  not 
be  hours  of  idleness;  leisure  is  one  of  the 
grandest  blessings,  idleness  one  of  the  greatest 
curses  —  one  is  the  source  of  happiness,  the 
other  of  misery.  Suppose  a  poor  man  has 
for  a  few  days  no  work,  what  is  he  to  do  ? 
How  is  he  to  employ  his  time?  If  he  has 
access  to  a  Library  it  need  no  longer  be  lost. 
The  reasons  for  educating  our  children 
apply  equally  to  the  grown-up.  We  have 
now  all  over  the  country  good  elementary 
schools.  We  do  our  best  to  educate  our  chil- 
dren. We  teach  them  to  read,  and  try  to 
give  them  a  love  of  reading.  Why  do  we  do 
this?  Because  we  believe  that  no  one  can 
study  without  being  the  better  for  it,  that 
it  tends  to  make  the  man  the  better  work- 
man, and  the  workman  the  better  man.  But 
education  ought  never  to  stop,  and  the  library 
is  the  school  for  the  grown-up.  There  is  a 
story  that  King  Alfred,  when  a  child,  once 
set  his  heart  on  a  book.  "  He  shall  have  thet 
book,"  said  his  mother,  "when  he  can  read 


vin  ON   LIBRARIES  133 

it ;  "  and  by  that  title  Alfred  won  it.  Our 
children  have  learnt  to  read ;  have  they  not 
also  the  same  title  to  books  ?  Many  of  those 
who  are  not  Socialists  in  the  ordinary  sense, 
would  be  so  if  they  thought  Socialism  would 
have  the  effect  which  its  advocates  anticipate. 
It  is  because  we  do  not  believe  that  Socialism 
in  the  ordinary  sense  would  promote  "the 
greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number,"  that 
we  are  not  Socialists.  But  the  difficulties  we 
feel  do  not  apply  to  books.  It  is  said  that 
a  poor  woman  on  seeing  the  Sea  for  the  first 
time  was  delighted.  "  It  was  grand,"  she 
said,  "to  see  something  of  which  there  was 
enough  for  everybody."  Well,  there  are 
books  enough  for  every  one,  and  the  best 
books  are  the  cheapest.  Reading  is  a  pleas- 
ure as  to  which  wealth  gives  scarcely  any 
advantage.  This  applies  to  few  other  things. 
We  who  are  engaged  in  the  "puzzle  of  busi- 
ness "  seem  always  to  wish  for  rather  more 
than  we  have.  But  in  books  fortune  showers 
on  us  more  than  we  can  possibly  use. 

We  are  beginning  to  realise  that  education 
should  last  through  life,  that  the  education 


134  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

of  our  children  should  not  be  a  mere  matter 
of  grammar  and  of  words,  but  should  include 
some  training  of  the  hand  and  eye ;  so,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  life  of  the  grown-up 
man  and  woman  should  not  be  altogether 
devoted  to  work  with  the  hands,  to  the  pur- 
suit of  money,  but  they  should  devote  some 
time  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  and  the 
improvement  of  their  minds.  Why  should 
not  every  one,  moreover,  add  something  to 
the  sum  of  human  knowledge  ?  however  hum- 
ble his  lot  in  life,  he  may  do  so.  We  do 
not  yet  appreciate  the  dignity  of  manual 
labour,  and  there  seems  a  general  impression 
that  science  is  something  up  in  the  clouds ; 
all  very  well  for  philosophers  and  geniuses, 
and  those  who  have  the  means  of  buying  ex- 
pensive apparatus,  but  for  them  only.  This 
is  quite  a  mistake.  To  whom  do  we  owe  our 
national  progress  ?  Partly,  no  doubt,  to  wise 
sovereigns  and  statesmen,  partly  to  our  brave 
Army  and  Navy,  partly  to  the  gallant  ex- 
plorers who  paved  the  way  to  our  Colonial 
Empire,  partly  to  students  and  philosophers. 
But  while  we  remember  with  gratitude  all 


VIII 


ON   LIBRARIES  135 


they  have  accomplished,  we  must  not  forget 
that  the  British  workman,  besides  all  he  has 
done  with  his  strong  right  arm,  has  used  his 
brains  also  to  great  advantage. 

Watt  was  a  mechanical  engineer  ;  Henry 
Cort,  whose  improvements  in  manufactures 
are  said  to  have  added  more  to  the  wealth 
of  England  than  the  whole  value  of  the 
national  debt,  was  the  son  of  a  brickmaker; 
Huntsman,  the  inventor  of  cast  steel,  was  a 
poor  watchmaker ;  Crompton  was  a  weaver ; 
Wedgwood  was  a  potter ;  Brindley,  Telford, 
Mushat,  and  Neilson  were  working  men; 
George  Stephenson  began  life  as  a  cowboy  at 
twopence  a  day,  and  could  not  read  till  he 
was  eighteen ;  Dalton  was  the  son  of  a  poor 
weaver;  Faraday  of  a  blacksmith;  Newco- 
men  of  a  blacksmith ;  Arkwright  began  life 
as  a  barber ;  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  was  an 
apothecary's  apprentice  ;  Boulton,  "  the  father 
of  Birmingham,"  was  a  button-maker;  and 
Watt  the  son  of  a  carpenter.  To  these  men, 
and  others  like  them,  the  world  owes  a  deep 
debt  of  gratitude.  We  ought  to  be  as  proud  of 
them  as  of  our  great  generals  and  statesmen. 


136  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

We  often  hear  of  "  civilised  nations/'  and 
no  doubt  some  are  more  civilised  than  others. 
But  no  country  is  yet  even  approximately  en- 
titled to  the  name.  We  must  try  to  make 
ours  a  real  civilisation,  and  the  establishment 
of  libraries  is  certainly  one  step  forwards  in 
the  right  direction. 

When  Household  Suffrage  was  passed,  Lord 
Sherbrooke  remarked  that  we  must  educate 
our  masters,  but  it  is  even  more  important  to 
enable  them  to  educate  themselves. 

There  are  many  whose  birth  is  a  sentence 
of  hard  labour  for  life  ;  but  it  does  not  follow 
that  their  life  should  on  that  account  be  un- 
happy or  uninteresting.  Only  if  they  have 
few  amusements,  and  little  variety  in  their 
lives,  all  the  more  desirable  is  it  that  they 
should  have  access  to  good  books. 

One  of  our  greatest  men  of  science,  Sir 
John  Herschel,  has  told  us  that :  "  Were  I  to 
pray  for  a  taste  that  should  stand  me  in  stead 
under  every  variety  of  circumstances,  and  be 
a  source  of  happiness  and  cheerfulness  to  me 
during  life,  and  a  shield  against  its  ills,  how- 
ever things  might  go  amiss,  and  the  world 


vin  ON   LIBRARIES  137 

frown  upon  me,  it  would  be  a  taste  for  read- 
ing. Give  a  man  this  taste,  and  the  means 
of  gratifying  it,  and  you  can  hardly  fail  of 
making  him  a  happy  man ;  unless,  indeed, 
you  put  into  his  hands  a  most  perverse  selec- 
tion of  books.  You  place  him  in  contact 
with  the  best  society  in  every  period  of  his- 
tory, with  the  wisest,  the  wittiest,  the  tender- 
est,  the  bravest,  and  the  purest  characters 
which  have  adorned  humanity.  You  make 
him  a  denizen  of  all  nations,  a  contemporary 
of  all  ages.  The  world  has  been  created  for 
him." 

Books  are  almost  living  beings.  "  Books," 
said  Milton,  "  do  contain  a  progeny  of  life  in 
them,  as  active  as  that  soul  was  whose  pro- 
geny they  are."  Great  writers  at  any  rate 
never  die. 

"  He  is  not  dead  whose  glorious  mind 

Lifts  thine  on  high. 
To  live  in  hearts  we  leave  behind, 
Is  not  to  die." 

The  Duke  of  Urbino,  who  founded  the 
great  library  there,  made  it  a  rule  that  every 
book  should  be  bound  in  crimson,  ornamented 
with  silver. 


138  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP,  vin 

Books  are  the  accumulated  treasures  of 
by-gone  ages.  Lamb  used  to  say  that  there 
was  more  reason  for  saying  grace  before  a 
new  book,  than  before  a  dinner. 

When,  moreover,  we  remember  how  much 
is  spent  on  drink,  certainly  no  one  can  accuse 
us  of  extravagance  on  books.  How  little  our 
libraries  cost  us  as  compared  with  our  cel- 
lars! Most  people  look  a  long  time  at  the 
best  book  before  they  would  give  the  price  of 
a  bottle  of  wine  for  it.  It  is  rather  sad  to 
think  that  when  we  speak  of  a  public-house, 
we  always  think  of  a  place  for  the  sale  of 
drink.  I  am  glad,  however,  to  know  that  on 
all  sides  public-houses  are  now  rising  for  the 
supply,  not  of  beer,  but  of  books. 


CHAPTER   IX 

ON    READING 

BOOKS  are  to  Mankind  what  Memory  is 
to  the  Individual.  They  contain  the  History 
of  our  race,  the  discoveries  we  have  made, 
the  accumulated  knowledge  and  experience 
of  ages ;  they  picture  for  us  the  marvels  and 
beauties  of  Nature ;  help  us  in  our  difficulties, 
comfort  us  in  sorrow  and  in  suffering,  change 
hours  of  ennui  into  moments  of  delight,  store 
our  minds  with  ideas,  fill  them  with  good  and 
happy  thoughts,  and  lift  us  out  of  and  above 
ourselves. 

There  is  an  Oriental  story  of  two  men :  one 
was  a  king,  who  every  night  dreamt  he  was 
a  beggar ;  the  other  was  a  beggar,  who  every 
night  dreamt  he  was  a  prince  and  lived  in  a 
palace.  I  am  not  sure  that  the  king  had  very 
much  the  best  of  it.  Imagination  is  some- 

139 


140  THE   USE   OF   LIFE 


CHAP. 


times  more  vivid  than  reality.  But,  however 
this  may  be,  when  we  read,  we  may  not  only 
(if  we  wish  it)  be  kings  and  live  in  palaces, 
but,  what  is  far  better,  we  may  transport 
ourselves  to  the  mountains  or  the  seashore, 
and  visit  the  most  beautiful  parts  of  the  earth, 
without  fatigue,  inconvenience,  or  expense. 
"Give  me,"  says  Fletcher — 

"  Leave  to  enjoy  myself.     That  place  that  does 
Contain  my  books,  the  best  companions,  is 
To  me  a  glorious  court,  where  hourly  I 
Converse  with  the  old  sages  and  philosophers ; 
And  sometimes  for  variety  I  confer 
With  kings  and  emperors,  and  weigh  their  counsels ; 
Calling  their  victories,  if  unjustly  got, 
Into  a  strict  account ;  and  in  my  fancy 
Deface  their  ill-placed  statues.     Can  I  then 
Part  with  such  constant  pleasures,  to  embrace 
Uncertain  vanities  ?     No,  be  it  your  care 
To  augment  a  heap  of  wealth ;  it  shall  be  mine 
To  increase  in  knowledge." 

Books  have  often  been  compared  to  friends. 
But  among  our  living  companions,  inexorable 
Death  often  carries  off  the  best  and  brightest. 
In  books,  on  the  contrary,  time  kills  the  bad, 
and  purifies  the  good. 


IX 


ON   READING  141 

"  The  wise 

(Minstrels  or  sage)  out  of  their  books  are  clay ; 
And  in  their  books,  as  from  their  graves,  they  rise 
Angels,  —  that  side  by  side,  upon  our  way, 
Walk  with  and  warn  us  ! 

We  call  some  books  immortal.     Do  they  live  ? 
If  so,  believe  me,  Time  hath  made  them  pure, 
In  books,  the  veriest  wicked  rest  in  peace  — 
God  wills  that  nothing  evil  should  endure ; 
The  grosser  parts  fly  off  and  leave  the  whole, 
As  the  dust  leaves  the  disembodied  soul."  l 

Many  of  those  who  have  had,  as  we  say,  all 
that  this  world  can  give,  have  yet  told  us  they 
owed  much  of  their  purest  happiness  to  books. 
Ascham,  in  Tlie  Schoolmaster,  tells  a  touching 
story  of  his  last  visit  to  Lady  Jane  Grey.  He 
found  her  sitting  in  an  oriel  window  read- 
ing Plato's  beautiful  account  of  the  death  of 
Socrates.  Her  father  and  mother  were  hunt- 
ing in  the  Park,  the  hounds  were  in  full  cry 
and  their  voices  came  in  through  the  open 
window.  He  expressed  his  surprise  that  she 
had  not  joined  them.  But,  said  she,  "  I  wist 
that  all  their  pleasure  in  the  Park  is  but  a 
shadow  to  the  pleasure  I  find  in  Plato." 

Macaulay  had  wealth  and  fame,  rank  and 

1  Bulwer  Lytton. 


142  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

power,  and  yet  he  tells  us  in  his  biography 
that  he  owed  the  happiest  hours  of  his  life  to 
books.  In  a  charming  letter  to  a  little  girl, 
he  says,  "Thank  you  for  your  very  pretty 
letter.  I  am  always  glad  to  make  my  little 
girl  happy,  and  nothing  pleases  me  so  much 
as  to  see  that  she  likes  books,  for  when  she 
is  as  old  as  I  am  she  will  find  that  they  are 
better  than  all  the  tarts  and  cakes,  toys  and 
plays,  and  sights  in  the  world.  If  any  one 
would  make  me  the  greatest  king  that  ever 
lived,  with  palaces  and  gardens  and  fine  din- 
ners, and  wines  and  coaches,  and  beautiful 
clothes,  and  hundreds  of  servants,  on  con- 
dition that  I  should  not  read  books,  I  would 
not  be  a  king.  I  would  rather  be  a  poor  man 
in  a  garret  with  plenty  of  books  than  a  king 
who  did  not  love  reading." 

Books,  indeed,  endow  us  with  a  whole  en- 
chanted palace  of  thoughts.  There  is  a  wider 
prospect,  says  Jean  Paul  Richter,  from  Par- 
nassus than  from  the  throne.  In  one  way 
they  give  us  an  even  more  vivid  idea  than 
the  actual  reality,  just  as  reflections  are  often 
more  beautiful  than  real  Nature.  All  mirrors, 


ix  ON   READING  143 

says  George  Macdonald,  "  are  magic  mirrors. 
The  commonest  room  is  a  room  in  a  poem 
when  I  look  in  the  glass." 

If  a  book  does  not  interest  us  it  does  not 
follow  that  the  fault  is  in  the  book.  There 
is  a  certain  art  in  reading.  Passive  reading 
is  of  very  little  use.  We  must  try  to  realise 
what  we  read.  Everybody  thinks  they  know 
how  to  read  and  write ;  whereas  very  few 
people  write  well,  or  really  know  how  to 
read.  It  is  not  enough  to  recognise  the 
mere  words  on  the  paper,  to  read  listlessly 
or  mechanically ;  we  must  endeavour  to 
realise  the  scenes  described,  and  the  persons 
who  are  mentioned,  to  picture  them  in  the 
"  Gallery  of  the  imagination."  "  Learning," 
says  Ascham,  "  teacheth  more  in  one  year 
than  experience  in  twenty;  and  learning 
teacheth  safely  when  experience  maketh 
more  miserable  than  wise.  He  hazardeth 
sore  that  waxeth  wise  by  experience.  An 
unhappy  shipmaster  is  he  that  is  made  cun- 
ning by  many  shipwrecks,  a  miserable  mer- 
chant that  is  neither  rich  nor  wise  but  after 
some  bankrouts.  It  is  costly  wisdom  that  is 


144  THE    USE    OF   LIFE 


CHAP. 


bought  by  experience.  We  know  by  experi- 
ence itself  that  it  is  a  marvellous  pain  to 
find  out  but  a  short  way  by  long  wandering. 
And  surely  he  that  would  prove  wise  by  ex- 
perience, he  may  be  witty  indeed,  but  even 
like  a  swift  runner,  that  runneth  fast  out  of 
his  way,  and  upon  the  night,  he  knoweth  not 
whither.  And,  verily,  they  be  fewest  in  num- 
ber that  be  happy  or  wiser  by  unlearned  expe- 
rience. And  look  well  upon  the  former  life 
of  those  few,  whether  your  example  be  old  or 
young,  who  without  learning  have  gathered, 
by  long  experience,  a  little  wisdom  and  some 
happiness :  and  when  you  do  consider  what 
mischief  they  have  committed,  what  dangers 
they  have  escaped  (and  yet  twenty  to  one 
do  perish  in  the  adventure),  then  think  well 
with  yourself,  whether  ye  would  that  your 
own  son  should  come  to  wisdom  and  happi- 
ness by  the  way  of  such  experience  or  no." 

The  choice  of  books,  like  that  of  friends, 
is  a  serious  duty.  We  are  as  responsible  for 
what  we  read  as  for  what  we  do.  A  good 
book,  in  the  noble  words  of  Milton,  "  is  the 
precious  life-blood  of  a  master  spirit,  em- 


IX 


ON   READING  145 


balmed  and  treasured  up  on  purpose  to  a 
life  beyond  life." 

Ruskin  in  his  chapter  on  the  Education 
of  Girls  well  says,  "  Let  us  be  sure  that  her 
books  are  not  heaped  up  in  her  lap  as  they 
fall  out  of  the  package  of  the  circulating 
library,  wet  with  the  last  and  lightest  spray 
of  the  fount  of  folly." 

To  get  the  greatest  amount,  I  will  not 
merely  say  of  benefit,  but  even  of  enjoyment, 
from  books,  we  must  read  for  improvement 
rather  than  for  amusement.  Light  and  en- 
tertaining books  are  valuable,  just  as  sugar 
is  an  important  article  of  food,  especially  for 
children,  but  we  cannot  live  upon  it. 

Moreover,  there  are  books  which  are  no 
books,  and  to  read  which  is  mere  waste  of 
time  ;  while  there  are  others  so  bad,  that  we 
cannot  read  them  without  pollution ;  which 
if  they  were  men  we  should  kick  into  the 
street.  There  are  cases  in  which  it  is  well 
to  be  warned  against  the  temptations  and 
dangers  of  life,  but  anything  which  familiar- 
ises us  with  evil,  is  itself  an  evil. 

So    also   there    are    others,    happily   many 


146  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

others,  which  no  one  can  read  without  being 
the  better  for  them.  By  useful  literature  we 
do  not  mean  that  only  which  will  help  a  man 
in  his  business  or  profession.  That  is  useful, 
no  doubt,  but  by  no  means  the  highest  use 
of  books.  The  best  books  elevate  us  into  a 
region  of  disinterested  thought  where  per- 
sonal objects  fade  into  insignificance,  and 
the  troubles  and  the  anxieties  of  the  world 
are  almost  forgotten. 

Interruptions  at  such  a  time  are  a  positive 
cruelty,  against  which  Hamerton  makes  a 
pathetic  protest.  "Suppose  a  reader  per- 
fectly absorbed  in  his  author,  an  author  be- 
longing very  likely  to  another  age  and 
another  civilisation  entirely  different  from 
ours.  Suppose  you  are  reading  the  Defence 
of  Socrates  in  Plato,  and  have  the  whole 
scene  before  you  as  in  a  picture  :  the  tribunal 
of  the  five  hundred,  the  pure  Greek  archi- 
tecture, the  interested  Athenian  public,  the 
odious  Melitus,  the  envious  enemies,  the  be- 
loved and  grieving  friends  whose  names  are 
dear  to  us  and  immortal ;  and  in  the  centre 
you  see  one  figure  draped  like  a  poor  man, 


ix  ON   READING  147 

in  cheap  and  common  cloth,  that  he  wears 
winter  and  summer,  with  a  face  plain  to 
downright  ugliness,  but  an  air  of  such  genu- 
ine courage  and  self-possession  that  no  act- 
ing could  imitate  it,  and  you  hear  the  firm 
voice  saying  — 

Tiju-arcu   8*  ovv  avrjp  OavaTov  •    Ele*>. 

You  are  just  beginning  the  splendid  para- 
graph where  Socrates  condemns  himself  to 
maintenance  in  the  Prytaneum,  and  if  you 
can  only  be  safe  from  interruption  till  it  is 
finished,  you  will  have  one  of  those  noble 
minutes  of  noble  pleasure  which  are  the  re- 
wards of  intellectual  toil." 

No  one  can  read  a  good  and  interesting 
book  for  an  hour  without  being  the  better 
and  the  happier  for  it.  Not  merely  for  the 
moment,  but  the  memory  remains  with  us : 
stores  of  bright  and  happy  thoughts  which  we 
can  call  up  when  we  will. 

"Even  their  phantoms  rise  before  us, 

Our  loftier  brethren,  but  one  in  blood ; 
At  bed  and  table  they  lord  it  o'er  us, 

With  looks  of  beauty  and  words  of  good." 


148  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

Bret  Harte,  describing  a  scene  at  a  miner's 
camp  in  the  far  West,  says  — 

"The  roaring  camp  fire,  with  rude  humour,  painted 

The  ruddy  tints  of  health, 
On  haggard  face  and  form  that  drooped  and  fainted 

In  the  fierce  race  for  wealth. 
Till  one  arose,  and  from  his  pack's  scant  treasure 

A  hoarded  volume  drew, 
And  cards  were  dropped  from  hands  of  listless  leisure 

To  hear  the  tale  anew. 
And  then  while  round  them  shadows  gathered  faster, 

And  as  the  firelight  fell, 
He  read  aloud  the  book  wherein  the  master 

Has  writ  of 'little  Nell/ 
Perhaps  'twas  boyish  fancy  —  for  the  reader 

Was  youngest  of  them  all,  — 
But,  as  he  read,  from  clustering  pine  and  cedar 

A  silence  seemed  to  fall, 
The  fir-trees  gathering  closer  in  the  shadow, 

Listened  in  every  spray, 

While   the    whole  camp,   with   'Nell'   on   English 
meadows, 

Wandered  and  lost  their  way." 

• 

English  literature  is  the  birthright  and  in- 
heritance of  the  English  race.  We  have  pro- 
duced and  are  producing  some  of  the  greatest 
of  poets,  of  philosophers,  of  men  of  science. 
No  race  can  boast  a  brighter,  purer,  or  nobler 


ix  ON   READING  149 

literature,  richer  than  our  commerce,  more 
powerful  than  our  arms.  It  is  the  true  pride 
and  glory  of  our  country,  and  for  it  we  can- 
not be  too  thankful. 


CHAPTER   X 

PATRIOTISM 

IF  ever  there  was  a  country  for  which  a 
man  might  work  with  pride,  surely  it  is  our 
own. 

"O  England  !  model  to  thy  inward  greatness 
Like  little  body  with  a  mighty  heart." 

As  regards  size,  a  mere  speck  on  the  Ocean ; 
and  yet  more  than  half  the  ships  on  the  Wide 
Seas  fly  the  British  Flag. 

No  doubt  the  geographical  position  is  fa- 
vourable. Our  climate  is  genial  and  yet  brac- 
ing ;  and  the  silver  streak  has  saved  us  from 
many  wars. 

"  This  sceptr'd  isle, 

This  earth  of  majesty,  this  seat  of  Mars, 
This  other  Eden,  demi-Paradise, 
This  fortress,  built  by  Nature  for  herself 
'Gainst  infection,  and  the  hand  of  war: 
150 


CHAP,  x  PATRIOTISM  151 

This  happy  breed  of  men,  this  little  world, 
This  precious  stone  set  in  the  silver  sea, 
Which  serves  it  in  the  office  of  a  wall ; 
Or  as  a  moat  defensive  to  a  house, 
Against  the  envy  of  less  happy  lands." 1 

An  orator  in  the  United  States  is  said  to 
have  described  his  country  as  being  bounded 
on  the  South  by  the  Equator,  on  the  East  by 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  on  the  North  by  the 
Aurora  Borealis,  and  on  the  West  by  the 
setting  sun';  we  can  say  with  more  truth  that 
the  Sun  never  sets  on  the  British  Empire. 

"  Britannia  needs  no  bulwarks, 
No  towers  along  the  steep, 
Her  march  is  o'er  the  mountain  waves, 
Her  home  is  on  the  deep." 2 

In  the  words  of  an  American  statesman, 
"  Her  flag  waves  on  every  sea  and  in  every 
port,  and  the  morning  drum-beat  of  her  sol- 
diers, following  the  sun  and  keeping  company 
with  the  hours,  circles  the  earth  with  one 
continuous  strain  of  the  martial  airs  of  Eng- 
land." 

But  we  may  reflect  with  still  greater  sat- 
isfaction that  our  soldiers  are  everywhere 

1  Shakespeare.  2  Campbell. 


152  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

present  not  as  enemies,  but  as  friends  and 
protectors.  The  motto  of  our  Volunteers, 
"Defence,  not  Defiance,"  is  equally  applica- 
ble to  our  Army  and  Navy. 

This  great  Empire  has  grown  up  gradually. 
We  owe  it  to  the  energy  and  industry  of  our 
forefathers,  and  we  must  indeed  be  degener- 
ate, if  we  do  not  feel  that  "  Come  what  Come 
may,"  we  are  bound  to  hand  it  down  to  our 
children,  not  merely  unimpaired,  but  strength- 
ened and  improved. 

In  our  history  there  has  no  doubt  been 
much  to  regret.  But  yet  as  contrasted  with 
that  of  other  nations,  it  has  been  compara- 
tively bloodless. 

Apart  from  actual  war,  no  country  with 
so  long  a  history  has  been  stained  by  so  little 
bloodshed;  we  have  had  no  massacres,  no 
Reign  of  Terror,  no  Sicilian  Vespers. 

In  war  we  have  shown  much  generosity 
to  our  enemies.  At  the  end  of  the  Great 
Struggle  with  Napoleon,  when  the  power  of 
France  was  crushed,  and  the  Allies  occupied 
Paris,  we  agreed  to  terms  which  left  France 
her  territories  and  colonies  intact  (on  the  sole 


x  PATEIOTISM  153 

condition,  as  regards  the  latter,  that  she  would 
agree  to  surrender  the  slave  trade),  and  free 
from  debt,  while  we  ourselves  had  incurred 
one,  mainly  arising  from  the  war,  of  over 
£900,000,000 !  When  we  look  back  on  the 
terms,  our  statesmen  behaved  with  a  gener- 
osity which  was  perhaps  hardly  wise;  and  we 
can  scarcely  wonder  that  some  Frenchmen 
claim  Waterloo  as  a  French  victory.  At  any 
rate  the  terms  of  peace  were  far  more  favour- 
able to  her  than  to  us. 

I  have  mentioned  the  restoration  of  the 
French  Colonies  —  a  small  part  of  the  ex- 
ertions and  sacrifices  made  to  put  down 
this  abominable  traffic.  We  paid  Portugal 
£300,000  and  Spain  £400,000  to  induce 
those  countries  to  give  up  the  traffic.  For 
more  than  half  a  century,  at  a  time  when  we 
had  a  crushing  debt,  and  were  far  less  pros- 
perous or  powerful  than  we  are  now,  we  kept 
a  squadron  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa,  at 
an  annual  cost  estimated  by  Mr.  Gladstone 
when  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  at  £700,000 
a  year,  and  at  a  great  sacrifice  of  valuable 
lives.  We  paid  the  West  Indies  and  Mauri- 


154  THE    USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

this  £20,000,000  to  free  their  slaves.  Alto- 
gether the  noble  efforts  to  put  down  this 
abominable  traffic  must  have  cost  the  country 
something  between  £50  and  £100,000,000 
sterling. 

Other  countries  have  drawn  a  considerable 
portion  of  their  revenue  from  their  colonies 
and  dependencies. 

The  Athenians  exacted  a  large  annual  con- 
tribution from  their  allied  states  ;  this  formed, 
indeed,  a  very  important  portion  of  their 
revenue.  With  the  Romans  it  was  a  cardi- 
nal principle  of  taxation  that  the  provinces 
were  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  Empire. 
When  they  conquered  Sicily  they  took  a 
tenth  of  the  field  produce,  and  5  per  cent  of 
the  value  of  all  exports  and  imports.  Com- 
ing down  to  more  recent  times,  other  coun- 
tries —  as,  for  instance,  Spain,  Portugal,  and 
Holland  —  have  derived  considerable  revenues 
from  their  colonial  possessions. 

Very  different  has  been  the  conduct  of 
England.  So  far  from  deriving  any  revenue 
from  our  Colonies,  we  have  spent  enormous 
sums  of  money  for  their  benefit.  So  far  as  I 


x  PATRIOTISM  155 

have  been  able  to  ascertain,  no  account  has 
been  published  showing  the  amount  spent  by 
the  mother-country  in  the  Colonies  before  the 
year  1859  ;  but  from  1859  to  1869  it  amounted 
to  more  than  £41,000,000,  and  no  doubt  for 
many  years  previously  the  amount  was  much 
over  £4,000,000  a  year. 

Moreover,  the  actual  cost  to  the  mother- 
country  was  considerably  greater,  because  the 
return  does  not  include  the  cost  of  arms,  ac- 
coutrements, barracks,  hospital,  and  other 
stores,  nor  any  proportion  for  recruiting 
expenses,  head-quarter  expenses,  or  non- 
effective  charges. 

It  may  be  said  that  our  Mediterranean 
military  expenditure  can  hardly  be  called 
"  colonial,"  and  it  is  of  course  true  that  we 
could  not  expect  such  stations  as  Malta  and 
Gibraltar  to  pay  their  own  expenses.  On 
the  other  hand,  our  great  reason  for  keeping 
them  up  is  in  order  to  protect  our  communi- 
cations with  India  and  Australia ;  and  if  we 
were  disposed  to  do  so,  we  might  well  ask 
why  the  burden  of  keeping  up  these  commu- 
nications should  fall  altogether  on  us,  —  why 


156  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

some  part  of  the  cost  should  not  be  borne  by 
India  and  the  Australasian  colonies.  More- 
over, the  above-mentioned  expenditure  refers 
only  to  the  troops  on  service  out  of  the 
mother-country ;  but  inasmuch  as  even  the 
troops  at  home  are  available  in  case  of  need 
(and  after  due  provision  has  been  made  for 
our  own  safety)  for  colonial  purposes,  we 
might  well  expect  to  receive  some  contribu- 
tion towards  the  permanent  expenses. 

Our  national  accounts  show  no  sum  devoted 
nominally  to  naval  expenses  on  account  of 
our  Colonies ;  yet,  in  fact,  this  country  bears 
almost  the  whole  of  the  naval  expenses, 
which,  if  the  Colonies  were  independent, 
would  fall  on  them.  For  them  we  act  as 
the  police  of  the  seas ;  their  shores  are  pro- 
tected at  our  expense.  What  a  saving  this 
is  to  them,  little  consideration  is  required  to 
show:  35,000,000  of  Englishmen  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  pay  £18,000,000  a  year 
for  naval  purposes;  300,000,000  of  our 
fellow-countrymen  in  the  Colonies  and  India 
pay  scarcely  anything. 

Take,    again,    the   case   of    India.       It   is 


x  PATRIOTISM  157 

hardly  necessary  to  say  that  India  makes  no 
direct  contribution  to  the  general  expenses  of 
the  Empire,  nor  to  those  home  charges.,  from 
which  she,  like  our  Colonies,  derives  great 
advantage.  No  English  labourer,  no  English 
tax-payer,  derives  a  penny  of  direct  advan- 
tage, or  pays  a  penny  less*towards  the  reve- 
nues of  the  country,  because  we  hold  India. 

So  far  as  military  expenditure  is  concerned, 
the  greatest  care  is  taken  that  India  should 
pay  nothing  beyond  what  is  necessary  for  the 
troops  actually  on  duty  there.  It  is  amusing, 
if  so  serious  a  subject  can  be  amusing,  to  see 
how  energetically  the  India  Office  resists  any 
application  made  by  the  War  Office  for  any 
charge  beyond  what  the  Indian  authorities 
regard  as  absolutely  necessary. 

As  regards  the  Navy  also,  India  is  treated 
with  the  utmost  liberality.  That  she  derives 
a  great  advantage  from  our  fleet  cannot  be 
doubted.  It  saves  her  from  a  heavy  expense, 
which  she  must  have  otherwise  incurred  ;  she 
contributes  to  it,  however,  only  the  small  sum 
of  £70,000  a  year,  in  addition  to  which  she 
spends  about  half  a  million  on  steam-tugs, 


158  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

inland  vessels,  pilotage  allowances,  port 
charges,  etc. 

Our  honest  effort  and  desire  has  been  to 
govern  India  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of 
India.  We  may  have  made  mistakes  there, 
as  we  have  made  mistakes  at  home,  but  these 
have  been  the  principles  on  which  we  have 
governed  India. 

That  they  have  benefited  hitherto  by  our 
rule  cannot,  I  think,  be  denied.  Dr.  Hunter1 
tells  us  that  in  Orissa  the  Rajah's  share  was 
60  per  cent  of  the  crop ;  the  mildest  native 
governments  took  33  per  cent ;  we  take  only 
from  3  to  7  per  cent.  No  one  can  doubt  that 
the  taxes  of  our  Indian  fellow-countrymen  are 
lighter,  their  lives  and  property  more  secure, 
than  if  they  had  remained  under  native  rulers  ; 
and  it  is  at  least  certain  that  India  does  not 
contribute  a  penny  to  our  English  revenue. 
That  we  are  loved  in  India  cannot  perhaps  be 
maintained,  and  would  be  probably  too  much 
to  expect.  That  our  Government  is  respected 
will  hardly  be  denied. 

That  our  rule  is  moreover  not  unpopular 

1  Our  Indian  Empire. 


x  PATRIOTISM  159 

was,  I  think,  clearly  shown  during  the  mutiny. 
Our  countrymen  behaved  like  heroes  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest,  but  yet  if  our  Govern- 
ment had  been  characterised  by  avarice  and 
injustice  —  if,  on  the  whole,  we  had  not  been 
trusted  and  respected  by  the  population  of 
India — we  must  then  have  been  swept  into 
the  sea.  The  bravery  of  our  gallant  troops, 
the  skill  of  their  officers,  would,  under  such 
circumstances,  have  availed  little.  The  peo- 
ple of  India  did  not,  however,  take  any  active 
part  against  us,  and  their  behaviour  in  that 
crisis  was  a  magnificent  testimony  to  the 
mode  in  which  we  have  fulfilled  our  great 
trust. 

An  Eminent  Frenchman,  M.  Barthelemy 
Saint  Hilaire,  late  Foreign  Secretary  in  M. 
Thiers'  Government,  has  borne  generous  tes- 
timony to  the  beneficence  and  justice  of  our 
rule  in  India,  which,  he  says,  "  merite  que 
tous  les  amis  de  1'humanite  et  de  la  civilisa- 
tion en  souhaitent  le  succes.  Faire  T education 
politique  et  morale  de  deux  cent  cinquante 
millions  de  nos  semblables  est  une  tache  pro- 
digieuse,  qui,  noblement  commencee  avec  ce 


160  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

siecle,  exigera,  pour  6tre  entierement  accom- 
plie,  une  suite  d'efforts  dont  on  ne  saurait 
pre*ciser  la  duree." J  We  have  to  face,  he 
truly  says,  a  difficult  problem,  but  it  is  very 
gratifying  to  be  assured  that  we  have  the 
"  applaudisseraents  sinceres  de  tous  les  esprits 
Claire's  et  impartiaux."  l 

The  opinion  which  other  races  have  formed 
of  our  rule  is  well  shown  by  the  history  of 
such  cases  as  Hong-Kong  and  Singapore.  In 
the  former,  says  Mr.  Wood,  "  we  find  a  small 
barren  island,  which  at  the  time  of  its  cession 
to  Britain,  was  inhabited  by  a  few  handfuls 
of  fishermen,  now  crowded  by  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  Chinese,  who  have  crossed  from  the 
mainland  because  they  know  that  under 
British  rule  they  would  be  free  from  oppres- 
sive taxation,  would  be  governed  by  just 
laws,  and  would  be  able  to  carry  on  a  thriv- 
ing and  profitable  trade."  Again,  in  the  once 
almost  uninhabited  island  of  Singapore,  we 
see  a  motley  population  attracted  from  China, 
the  Malay  peninsula,  and  India,  by  a  similar 
cause. 

1  Ulrule  Anglaise. 


x  PATRIOTISM  161 

Take,  again,  the  case  of  Java.  "During 
the  five  years  of  the  British  possession,"  says 
Heeren,  "  so  wise  and  mild  an  administration 
was  exercised  that  after  the  restoration  it 
seems  to  have  been  difficult  for  the  natives 
and  Europeans  to  accustom  themselves  again 
to  Dutch  dominion.  During  the  short  time 
it  was  in  the  possession  of  Britain,  a  clearer 
light  was  shed  over  this  remarkable  island 
than  was  done  during  the  two  whole  centuries 
of  the  dominion  of  Holland." 

Passing  to  America,  I  may  quote  the  strik- 
ing testimony  of  an  American  bishop,  Bishop 
Whipple  of  Minnesota,  who  thus  contrasts 
the  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
Great  Britain  with  the  Indians  in  their  re- 
spective territories  :  — 

"  On  one  side  of  the  line  (he  says)  is  a 
nation  that  has  spent  $500,000,000  in  Indian 
wars ;  a  people  that  have  not  100  miles  be- 
tween the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  which  has 
not  been  the  scene  of  an  Indian  massacre ; 
a  Government  which  has  not  passed  twenty 
years  without  an  Indian  war  ;  not  an  Indian 
tribe  to  whom  it  has  given  Christian  civilisa- 


162  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

tion ;  and  which  celebrates  its  Centenary  by 
another  bloody  Indian  war.  On  the  other 
side  of  the  line  are  the  same  Anglo-Saxon 
race,  and  the  same  heathen.  They  have  not 
spent  one  dollar  in  Indian  wars,  and  have 
had  no  Indian  massacres.  Why  ?  In  Can- 
ada the  Indian  treaties  call  these  men  'the 
Indian  subjects  of  her  Majesty.'  When  civ- 
ilisation approaches  them  they  are  placed  on 
ample  reservations,  receive  aid  in  civilisation, 
have  personal  right  in  property,  are  amena- 
ble to  law,  and  protected  by  law,  have  schools, 
and  Christian  people  send  them  the  best 
teachers." 

It  is  sometimes  said  —  most  unjustly  — 
that  Ireland  has  been  hardly  dealt  with.  On 
the  contrary,  she  has  a  much  larger  represen- 
tation than  she  is  entitled  to,  either  by  popu- 
lation or  by  her  contribution  to  the  Imperial 
revenue ;  her  taxes  are  the  same  as  ours, 
except  that  we  pay  some  that  are  not  levied 
in  Ireland,  namely,  Land  Tax,  House  Duty, 
Railway  Tax,  Assessed  Taxes  amounting  to 
over  £700,000  a  year,  and  others;  till  this 
year  her  farmers  have  paid  a  lower  rate  of 


x  PATRIOTISM  163 

Income  tax  than  ours,  and  Irish  land  is  taken 
at  a  lower  figure  for  valuation  than  English ; 
she  has  had  subventions  in  aid  of  rates  far 
larger  in  proportion  than  England  or  Scot- 
land ;  and  liberal  grants  of  money  —  as,  for 
instance,  £8,000,000  at  the  time  of  the  famine. 
It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  duty  on  Spirits 
presses  unduly  on  Ireland.  But  while  the 
duty  on  Beer  is  almost  entirely  paid  in  Eng- 
land, even  as  regards  the  duty  on  Spirits, 
Great  Britain  pays  92  per  cent,  Ireland  only 
7 '90  per  cent.  I  am  sure  it  is  the  wish  of 
Englishmen  and  Scotchmen  to  treat  Ireland 
with  justice  and  all  reasonable  liberality. 

Peace,  we  know,  hath  her  victories  as  well 
as  war,  and  if  we  turn  to  the  history  of  hu- 
man progress  we  have  equal  reason  to  be 
proud  of  our  forefathers. 

The  English  tongue  is  rapidly  spreading 
and  bids  fair  to  become  the  general  language 
of  the  human  race.  Yet  it  is  not  so  very 
long  ago  that  Bacon  asked  Dr.  Playfair  to 
translate  The  Advancement  of  Learning  from 
English  into  Latin,  because  "  the  private- 
ness  of  the  language  wherein  it  is  written, 


164  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

limits  my  readers,"  and  its  translation  into 
Latin  "  would  give  a  second  birth  of  that 
work."1 

No  country  can  boast  a  brighter,  purer,  or 
nobler  literature.  Perhaps  it  may  be  said 
that  as  an  Englishman  I  am  prejudiced.  By 
common  consent,  however,  Shakespeare  stands 
out  unique  and  pre-eminent  in  the  literature 
of  the  world.  Chaucer,  Bacon,  Milton,  Spen- 
cer, and  many  others,  to  say  nothing  of  more 
recent  authors,  are  also  a  glory  to  our  nation. 
Recently  a  leading  Italian  Journal  instituted 
a  vote  as  to  the  best  books  in  the  world.  A 
large  number,  indeed  several  hundred,  sub- 
scribers gave  their  views,  and  out  of  the  first 
eight  books  —  one  being  the  Bible  —  no  less 
than  four  were  English. 

In  the  history  of  Invention  and  Discovery 
the  name  of  Watt  will  be  always  associated 
with  the  Steam  Engine,  of  Stephenson  with 
the  Locomotive,  Wheatstone  with  the  Elec- 
tric Telegraph,  Arkwright  with  the  Spinning 
Machine,  Hargreaves  with  the  Jenny,  Fox 
Talbot  with  Photography. 

1  Lord  Playfair  in  University  Extension  Addresses. 


x  PATRIOTISM  165 

In  medicine  the  circulation  of  the  blood 
was  discovered  by  Harvey,  Vaccination  by 
Jenner,  Anaesthetics  were  brought  into  use  by 
Simpson,  and  the  antiseptic  treatment  in  cases 
of  wounds  and  operations  by  Lister.  In 
Science  we  have  many  great  names :  Bacon 
and  Newton,  Young  and  Darwin,  Faraday, 
Herschel,  and  many  others. 

I  do  not  mention  these  facts  as  any  credit 
to  us.  They  are  a  great  honour  to  our 
fathers,  and  we  are  proud  of  them,  but  they 
impose  on  us  a  great  responsibility. 

Well  then  may  we  all  join  in  Milton's 
prayer  :  "  Oh  Thou  who  of  Thy  free  grace 
didst  build  up  this  Brittanick  Empire  to  a 
glorious  and  enviable  height,  with  all  her 
daughter  islands  about  her,  stay  us  in  this 
felicitie."  But  we  must  not  be  content  to 
pray  only  for  this  great  boon ;  we  must  en- 
deavour to  deserve  it.  We  must  remember 
that  the  deepest  force  is  the  stillest :  that 
"not  by  material,  but  by  moral  force,  are 
men  and  their  actions  governed."  l 

England  has  a  right  to  expect  that  "  every 

i  Carlyle. 


166  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

man  will  do  his  duty."  She  says  to  us  all, 
"  I  have  done  all  this  for  thee  ;  what  hast 
thou  done  for  me  ?  " 

Indeed,  when  we  look  back  on  the  whole 
history  of  the  past,  it  is  not,  I  think,  too 
much  to  say  that  our  country  has  exercised 
its  great  trust  in  a  wise  and  liberal  spirit,  and 
governed  the  Empire  in  a  manner  scarcely 
less  glorious  than  the  victories  by  which  that 
Empire  was  won.  Is  it  a  dream  to  hope  that 
the  time  may  come  when  the  whole  Eng- 
lish-speaking people  may  form  one  great 
nation ! 

I  may  perhaps  be  thought  to  be  too  partial 
to,  and  too  proud  of,  my  own  country.  The 
facts,  however,  speak  for  themselves.  More- 
over, as  Maurice  well  says,  "  that  man  is  most 
just,  on  the  whole,  to  every  other  nation,  who 
has  the  strongest  feeling  of  attachment  to  his 
own."  The  love  of  one's  country  elevates  the 
conception  of  citizenship,  raises  us  above  the 
petty  circle  of  personal  and  even  family  in- 
terests, to  the  true  width  and  splendour  of 
national  life.  The  real  imperial  spirit  is  not 
one  of  vainglory,  but  of  just  pride  in  the  ex- 


x  PATRIOTISM  167 

tension  of  our  language  and  literature  ;  of  our 
people,  and  our  commerce,  on  land  and  sea ; 
and  a  deep  sense  of  the  great  responsibility 
thus  imposed  upon  us. 


CHAPTEK  XI 

CITIZENSHIP 

WE  are  all  part  of  the  Government  of  the 
country,  and  one  of  the  most  important  of  our 
duties  is  to  fit  ourselves  for  that  great  respon- 
sibility. This  requires  study  and  thought  as 
well  as  mere  good- will.  The  very  magnitude 
and  extent  of  our  Empire  is  itself  a  source  of 
danger.  We  govern  many  races  of  men,  some 
of  them  with  ideas  and  aspirations  very 
different  from  our  own.  Look  at  India. 
The  population  is  nearly  ten  times  as  large  as 
that  of  England,  and  is  broken  up  into  races 
very  different. in  race  and  creed.  The  true 
Hindoo  belongs  to  the  same  great  race  of 
men  as  we  do :  he  speaks  a  language  not  only 
'similar  in  origin  and  in  structure,  but  even 
retaining  some  of  the  same  words.  The  word 
"poor,"  with  which  so  many  Indian  words 

168 


CHAP,  xi  CITIZENSHIP  169 

end,  corresponds  to  our  "  borough,"  and  is  as 
common  a  termination  as  with  us.  But  the 
Hindoos  are  only  a  section  of  the  Indian 
population ;  they  are  more  nearly  allied  to  us 
in  blood  than  to  the  Dravidian  races  of  the 
South,  or  the  Malayo-Chinese  of  the  East, 
though  time  and  distance  have  created  great 
differences.  They  are  in  sharp  religious  con- 
flict with  the  Mahomedans,  who  were,  and 
would  probably  be  again  if  we  left,  the  dom- 
inant power. 

But  India,  though  perhaps  the  greatest,  is 
only  one  of  our  responsibilities.  All  over  the 
world  we  come  in  contact  with  other  great 
nations.  Questions  arise,  and  will  continue 
to  arise,  which  require  tact,  moderation,  and 
forbearance  on  both  parts.  Our  statesmen 
must  know  when  to  give  way,  and  where  to 
stand  firm,  and  the  people  must  know  whom 
to  support. 

The  history  of  Man  has  shown  us  a  succes- 
sion of  Great  Empires  which  have  crumbled  to 
the  dust.  Egypt,  Assyria,  Persia,  Rome,  have 
risen  and  sunk.  In  more  recent  times  Genoa 
and  Venice  have  flourished  to  a  great  extent 


170  THE   USE   OF   LIFE 


CHAP. 


as  we  do  now  by  "  ships,  colonies,  and  Com- 
merce." If  we  are  to  escape  their  fate,  we 
must  avoid  their  mistakes. 

"  A  thousand  years  scarce  serve  to  form  a  state ; 
An  hour  may  lay  it  in  the  dust."  l 

As  regards  our  foreign  policy,  it  is  no  less 
our  interest  than  our  duty  to  maintain  the 
most  friendly  relations  with  other  countries. 
Nations  often  unfortunately  regard  others  as 
enemies.  And  yet  a  clearer  light  shows  that 
we  are  human,  and  ought  to  be  friends.  A 
Welsh  preacher  once  illustrated  this  in  a 
homely  and  yet  striking  manner.  He  was 
out  walking  one  day,  he  said,  and  on  the 
opposite  hill  he  saw  a  monstrous  figure ;  as 
he  approached  he  saw  it  was  a  man,  and  when 
he  came  up  close,  he  found  it  was  his  brother. 

Other  nations  are  not  only  Men,  but  broth- 
ers, and  their  interests  are  in  many  ways 
bound  up  with  ours.  If  they  suffer,  we  suffer 
with  them ;  whatever  benefits  them,  benefits 
us.  The  greatest  of  British  interests  are  the 
peace  and  prosperity  of  the  world.  The 

1  Byron. 


xi  CITIZENSHIP  171 

glamour  of  War  has  dazzled  the  imagination 
of  Mankind.  We  are  told  of  the  "pomp 
and  circumstance  of  glorious  war/'  that  every 
soldier  carries  a  Field-marshal's  Baton  in  his 
knapsack,  etc.,  and  we  fail  to  realise  the  infi- 
nite misery  which  it  has  inflicted  on  the  human 
race. 

The  carnage  and  suffering  which  war  en- 
tails are  terrible  to  contemplate,  and  constitute 
an  irresistible  argument  in  favour  of  Arbitra- 
tion. The  present  state  of  things  is  a  disgrace 
to  human  nature.  There  may  be  some  excuse 
for  barbarous  tribes  who  settle  their  disputes 
by  force  of  arms,  but  that  civilised  nations 
should  do  so  is  not  only  repugnant  to  our  moral, 
but  also  to  our  common  sense.  At  present 
even  the  peace  establishments  of  Europe  com- 
prise 3,500,000  men ;  the  war  establishments 
are  over  10,000,000,  and  when  the  proposed 
arrangements  are  completed,  will  exceed 
20,000,000.  The  nominal  cost  is  over  £200,- 
000,000  annually,  but  as  the  Continental  ar- 
mies are  to  a  great  extent  under  conscription, 
the  actual  cost  is  far  larger.  Moreover,  if  these 
3,500,000  men  were  usefully  employed,  and 


172  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

taking  the  value  of  their  labour  only  at  £50 
a  year,  we  must  add  another  £175,000,000, 
bringing  up  the  total  expenditure  of  Europe 
on  military  matters  to  £375,000,000  a  year ! 
Of  course  there  are  deeper  and  graver  consid- 
erations than  questions  of  money  ;  but  yet 
money  represents  human  labour  and  human 
life.  It  is  impossible  for  any  one  to  contem- 
plate the  present  naval  and  military  arrange- 
ments without  the  gravest  forebodings.  Even 
if  they  do  not  end  in  war,  they  will  eventually 
end  in  bankruptcy  and  ruin. 

The  principal  countries  of  Europe  are  run- 
ning deeper  and  deeper  into  debt.  During  the 
last  twenty  years  the  debt  of  Italy  has  risen 
from  £483,000,000  to  £516,000,000 ;  that  of 
Austria  from  £340,000,000  to  £5.80,000,000 ; 
of  Russia  from  £340,000,000  to  £750,000,000 ; 
of  France  from  £500,000,000  to  £1,300,000,- 
000.  Taking  the  Government  debts  of  the 
world  together,  they  amounted  in  1870  to 
£4,000,000,000  — a  fabulous,  terrible,  and 
crushing  weight.  But  what  are  they  now? 
They  have  risen  to  over  £6,000,000,000,  and 
are  still  increasing. 


xi  CITIZENSHIP  173 

By  far  the  greater  part  of  this  enormous, 
this  appalling,  burden  is  represented  by  no 
valuable  property,  has  fulfilled  no  useful  pur- 
pose ;  it  has  been  absolutely  wasted,  or  what, 
from  an  international  point  of  view,  is  even 
worse,  thrown  away  on  war,  or  in  preparation 
for  war.  In  fact,  we  never  now  have  any  real 
peace ;  we  live  practically  in  a  state  of  war, 
happily  without  battles  or  bloodshed,  but  not 
without  terrible  sufferings.  Even  in  our  own 
case,  one-third  of  our  national  income  is  spent 
in  preparing  for  future  wars,  another  third  in 
paying  for  past  ones,  and  only  one-third  is  left 
for  the  government  of  the  country.  Our  in- 
terests at  stake  are  enormous,  and  the  interests 
of  nations  are  so  interwoven  that  every  war 
now  is  in  fact  a  civil  war. 

Though  not  a  "  peace-at-any-price  man,"  I 
am  not  ashamed  to  say  I  am  a  peace-at- 
almost-any-price  man.  No  doubt  there  are 
some  vital  question s- which  cannot  be  referred 
to  Arbitration,  but  Earl  Russell,  a  very  high 
authority,  said  that  there  had  not  been  a  war 
for  the  last  hundred  years  which  might  not 
well  have  been  settled  without  recourse  to 
arms. 


174  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

The  last  time  I  saw  M.  Gambetta,  we  talked 
over  this  subject,  and  he  said  in  his  usual  ani- 
mated manner  that  if  the  present  rate  of  ex- 
penditure be  maintained  the  day  will  come 
when  Frenchmen  will  all  be  "  beggars  in  front 
of  a  barrack."  It  has  not  only  been  main- 
tained but  increased. 

The  condition  of  Europe  cannot  be  viewed 
without  alarm.  Russia  is  honeycombed  with 
Nihilism,  Germany  alarmed  with  Socialism, 
France  in  a  panic  from  Anarchy,  and  rapidly 
tending  to  bankruptcy.  There  is  no  justifica- 
tion, no  excuse,  for  recent  Anarchist  crimes, 
but  nothing  happens  in  this  world  without 
a  cause.  Continental  workmen  are  working 
terribly  long  hours  for  very  low  wages.  If 
any  one  will  read  the  recent  reports  from 
Italy  he  will  see  the  miserable  condition  of 
agricultural  labourers  in  that  country;  the 
wages  of  workmen  in  continental  countries 
are  very  low,  and  their  hours  long ;  while  the 
small  proprietors  in  France  and  elsewhere  are 
no  better  off. 

I  sympathise  very  much  with  the  desire  for 
an  eight  hours'  day,  but  the  resolution  passed 


xi  CITIZENSHIP  175 

in  Hyde  Park  the  year  before  last  wisely  in- 
sisted that  it  should  be  international.  If, 
however,  the  present  military  system  is  main- 
tained no  relaxation  of  hours  is  possible.  The 
only  way  to  secure  the  eight  hours  is  to  di- 
minish military  expenditure.  The  necessary 
taxation  to  support  the  army  and  navy  com- 
pels every  man  and  woman  in  Europe  to 
work  an  hour  a  day  more  than  they  other- 
wise need.  In  fact,  the  religion  of  Europe  is 
not  Christianity,  but  the  Worship  of  the  God 
of  War.  We  cannot,  alas  !  prevent  war,  but 
we  may  at  least  throw  our  weight  into  the 
scale  of  peace  ;  endeavour  ourselves  to  main- 
tain friendly  relations  with  foreign  nations, 
and  treat  them  with  courtesy,  justice,  and 
generosity. 

Many  countries  attempt  to  wage  war  upon 
one  another,  quite  as  foolishly,  by  fiscal  re- 
strictions. 

Cowper  observes  that  — 

"  Mountains  interposed 
Make  enemies  of  nations,  who  had  else, 
Like  kindred  drops,  been  mingled  into  one." 

But  the  worst  barriers  are  those  which  nations 


176  THE   USE   OF  LIFE 


CHAP. 


have  raised  against  one  another:  barriers  of 
duties  and  customs,  and  worst  of  all,  un- 
founded jealousies  and  ill-will,  each  attribut- 
ing to  the  other  injurious  designs,  which 
neither  of  them  perhaps  in  reality  entertain. 

The  same  spirit  of  jealousy  and  hostility 
which  too  often  characterises  international  re- 
lations, sadly  embitters  also  internal  politics. 
But  abuse  is  no  argument ;  it  is  rather  a  con- 
fession of  weakness.  Happy  will  it  be  for  us 
when,  as  between  party  and  party,  between 
nation  and  nation,  we  lower  and  degrade  our- 
selves to  — 

"  No  threat  of  war,  no  savage  call 

For  vengeance  on  an  erring  brother, 

But  in  their  stead  the  Godlike  plan 

To  teach  the  brotherhood  of  man 

To  love  and  reverence  one  another."  ] 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  Revolutions  are 
not  made  with  rose-water.  Greater  changes, 
however,  have  been  made  in  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  world  by  argument  than  by  arms ; 
and  even  where  arms  have  been  used,  in  most 
cases  the  pen  has  wielded  the  sword.  Ideas 
are  more  powerful  than  bayonets. 

1  Whittier. 


XI 


CITIZENSHIP  177 


"  In  the  comparatively  early  state  of  human 
advancement/'  ,says  Mill.  "  in  which  we  now 
live,  a  person  cannot,  indeed,  feel  that  en- 
tireness  of  sympathy  with  all  others  which 
would  make  any  real  discordance  in  the  gen- 
eral direction  of  their  conduct  in  life  impos- 
sible ;  but  already  the  person  in  whom  the 
social  feeling  is  at  all  developed,  cannot  bring 
himself  to  think  of  the  rest  of  his  fellow- 
creatures  as  struggling  rivals  with  him  for 
the  means  of  happiness,  whom  he  must  desire 
to  see  defeated  in  their  object  in  order  that 
he  may  succeed  in  his." 

In  order  to  perform  the  part  of  a  citizen 
wisely  and  well  it  is  needful,  in  the  words  of 
Burke,  "  carefully  to  cultivate  our  minds,  to 
rear  to  the  most  perfect  vigour  and  maturity, 
every  sort  of  generous  and  honest  feeling  that 
belongs  to  our  nature.  To  bring  the  disposi- 
tions that  are  lovely  in  private  life  into  the 
service  and  conduct  of  the  Commonwealth,  so 
to  be  patriots  and  not  to  forget  we  are  gentle- 
men. .  .  .  Public  life  is  a  situation  of  power 
and  energy;  he  trespasses  against  his  duty 
who  sleeps  upon  his  watch,  as  well  as  he  that 


178  THE   USE    OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

goes  over  to  the  enemy."  Think  rather  of 
performing  your  duties  than  of  claiming  your 
rights. 

Lord  Bolingbroke  in  his  essay  "On  the 
Spirit  of  Patriotism "  quotes  with  approba- 
tion a  remark  of  Socrates  that  "though  no 
man  undertakes  a  trade  he  has  not  learned, 
even  the  meanest,  yet  every  one  thinks  him- 
self sufficiently  qualified  for  the  hardest  of 
all  trades,  that  of  Government."  He  said 
this  upon  the  experience  he  had  in  Greece. 
He  would  not  change  his  opinion  if  he  lived 
now  in  Britain. 

We  have  indeed  a  great  variety  of  pressing 
problems.  We  are  trying  to  educate  our 
children,  but  probably  no  one  would  say  that 
our  system  is  yet  perfect ;  the  straggles  be- 
tween capital  and  labour  are  starving  our 
commerce,  hampering  our  manufactures,  and 
if  they  continue  will  assuredly  lower  wages 
by  checking  the  demand  for  labour ;  the 
health  of  our  great  cities  leaves  much  still  to 
be  desired ;  in  Science  we  have  but  made  a 
beginning. 

Moreover,  apart  from  any  question  of  prog- 


xi  CITIZENSHIP  179 

ress,  the  daily  life  of  the  Community  requires 
constant  labour.  The  consultations  of  Parlia- 
ment, the  conduct  of  local  affairs,  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  Poor  Law,  —  in  fact,  the 
affairs  of  the  Community,  as  a  whole,  re- 
quire as  much  care  and  attention  as  those  of 
Individuals,  and  the  tendency,  whether  wisely 
or  unwisely,  is  in  the  direction  of  increased 
communal  organisation. 

The  poor  again  we  have  always  with  us, 
and  it  is  greatly  owing  to  the  numerous 
charitable  agencies,  the  greater  sympathy 
between  rich  and  poor,  though  partly  also 
to  our  Poor  Law,  Free  Trade,  and  the  less 
unsatisfactory  physical  conditions,  that  there 
is  no  such  feeling  in  favour  of  Socialism  and 
Anarchy  as  exists  in  some  other  countries. 

Enthusiasm  no  doubt  is  the  lever  which 
moves  the  world,  but  it  is  sad  to  reflect  how 
much  time  and  money  have  been  wasted  on 
vain  experiments,  —  on  experiments  which 
have  failed  over  and  over  again  before,  and 
which  have  been  worse  than  useless,  because 
they  have  done  harm  instead  of  good  to  those 
whom  they  were  intended  to  benefit.  It  has 


180  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

hardly  been  sufficiently  borne  in  mind  that 
work  for  the  poor  demands  an  effort  of  the 
mind  as  well  as  a  sentiment  of  good-will. 

It  is  not  money  that  is  chiefly  wanted. 
Thought  and  love  are  more  than  gold.  Those 
who  give  time  do  more  than  those  who  give 
money.  In  fact,  there  is  considerable  danger 
that  money  and  enthusiasm  without  experi- 
ence and  training,  may  do  more  harm  than 
good ;  for  more  harm  may  come  of  work  ill 
done  than  of  work  left  undone. 

It  is  much  better  to  give  hope  and  strength 
and  courage,  than  money.  The  best  help  is 
not  to  bear  the  troubles  of  others  for  them, 
but  to  inspire  them  with  courage  and  energy 
to  bear  their  burdens  for  themselves,  and 
meet  the  difficulties  of  life  bravely.  To  help 
others  is  no  easy  matter,  but  requires  a  clear 
head,  a  wise  judgment,  as  well  as  a  warm 
heart. 

We  must  be  careful  not  to  undermine  inde- 
pendence in  our  anxiety  to  relieve  distress. 
There  is  always  the  initial  difficulty  that 
whatever  is  done  for  men  takes  from  them 
a  great  stimulus  to  work,  and  weakens  the 


xi  CITIZENSHIP  181 

feeling  of  independence ;  all  creatures  which 
depend  on  others  tend  to  become  mere  para- 
sites :  it  is  important  therefore,  so  far  as 
possible,  not  so  much  to  give  a  man  bread, 
as  to  put  him  in  the  way  of  earning  it,  not 
to  give  direct  aid,  but  to  others  to  help  them- 
selves. The  world  is  so  complex  that  we 
must  inevitably  all  owe  much  to  our  neigh- 
bours, but  as  far  as  possible,  every  man 
should  stand  on  his  own  feet. 

We  cannot  expect  others  to  conform  to  our 
ideal ;  what  we  have  to  do  is  to  help  them  to 
realise  all  that  is  best  in  their  own  ;  to  en- 
courage them  in  their  efforts  at  self-improve- 
ment. Where  money  is  unwisely  given  it  is 
generally  by  those  who  are  lavish,  rather  to 
save  themselves  trouble,  than  from  any  real 
sympathy,  and  yet  work  for  the  Community 
in  the  long  run  brings  its  own  reward  ;  we 
probably  derive  more  happiness  from  work 
for  others,  than  from  what  we  do  for  our- 
selves. To  work  for  others  consecrates  even 
the  humblest  labour. 

However  lowly  the  work  may  be,  throw 
your  heart  into  it. 


182  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

"  What  part  soever  you  have  taken  upon 
you,"  says  Sir  T.  More,  "play  that  as  well 
as  you  can  and  make  the  best  of  it  ...  if 
you  cannot,  even  as  you  wolde,  remedy  vices, 
which  use  and  custom  hath  confirmed,  yet  for 
this  cause  you  must  not  leave  and  forsake  the 
common  wealthe ;  you  must  not  forsake  the 
shippe  in  a  tempest,  because  you  cannot  rule 
and  keep  down  the  windes.  .  .  .  But  study e 
and  endeavour,  as  much  as  in  you  lyethe,  to 
handle  the  matter  wyttelye  and  handsornelye 
to  the  purpose,  and  that  which  you  cannot 
turne  to  good,  so  to  order  that  it  be  not  very 
badde.  For  it  is  not  possible  for  all  things  to 
be  well  unless  all  men  were  good.  Whych," 
he  adds,  "  I  think  will  not  be  yet  this  good 
many  years." 

The  more  all  men  do  their  duty,  however, 
the  nearer,  and  the  sooner,  we  shall  approach 
it.  Indeed  we  hardly  perhaps  realise  how 
happy  we  might  be  if  we  would  all  try. 

"  We  cannot  all  be  heroes, 

And  thrill  a  hemisphere 
With  some  great,  daring  venture, 
Some  deed  that  mocks  at  fear ; 


xi  CITIZENSHIP  183 

But  we  can  fill  a  lifetime 

With  kindly  acts  and  true. 
There's  always  noble  service 

For  noble  souls  to  do."  l 

It  is  a  great  privilege  to  be  an  Englishman. 
No  country  enjoys  greater  individual  liberty. 

Every  man  is  equal  before  the  Law. 

Every  man  is  accounted  innocent  until  he 
is  proved  guilty. 

No  man  is  liable  to  be  tried  a  second  time 
for  the  same  offence. 

All  trials  must  be  in  public,  and  the  pris- 
oner is  entitled  to  meet  his  accusers  face  to 
face. 

No  man  is  a  judge  in  his  own  case,  nor 
may  he  take  the  law  into  his  own  hands. 

To  work  then  for  our  country  at  whatever 
cost,  or  risk,  is  a  solemn  duty,  and  "  he  is  not 
worthy  to  live  at  all,  who  for  fear  of  danger 
or  death,  shunneth  his  country's  service  or 
his  own  honour,  since  death  is  inevitable,  and 
the  fame  of  virtue  immortal."  2 

Our  country's  service,  however,  in  compara- 
tively few  cases  is  one  of  danger.  What  it 

1  C.  A.  Mason.  2  Sir  H.  Gilbert. 


184  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

demands  is  some  sacrifice  of  our  ease  and 
leisure ;  some  time  devoted  to  duties  and 
work,  which  may  seem  unheroic  and  even 
tedious,  but  which  are  none  the  less  neces- 
sary. 

Public  business  —  Committees,  Elections, 
Meetings,  Speeches,  Vestries,  County  Councils 
—  these  are  not  very  romantic ;  they  do  not 
dazzle  the  imagination,  or  stir  the  blood,  and 
yet  a  vote  in  peace  is  like  a  stroke  in  battle, 
and  none  the  less  effective  because  it  is  peace- 
ful and  bloodless.  The  vote  is  not  a  right, 
but  a  duty ;  and  to  prepare  ourselves  for  giv- 
ing it  is  a  duty  also. 

The  amount  of  unpaid  work  which  is  done 
for  the  public  is  astonishing,  and  long  may  it 
continue  so. 

No  one  has  any  right  to  enjoy  the  benefit 
of  all  this  labour  without  contributing  if  not 
his  fair  share,  for  some  have  not  the  same 
leisure  or  opportunities  as  others,  but  at  any 
rate  without  contributing  something  to  the 
common  welfare. 

"No  man's  private  fortune,"  says  Bacon, 
"  can  be  an  object  in  any  way  worthy  of  his 


xi  CITIZENSHIP  185 

existence."  Houses  and  food  and  clothing 
are  not  the  only  things  needful,  nor  are  they 
even  needful  in  the  highest  degree. 

Even  in  the  narrowest  and  most  selfish 
point  of  view,  time  so  spent  will  not  be  lost 
for  "  the  love  of  our  neighbour,  the  impulse 
towards  action,  help,  and  beneficence,  the 
desire  for  stopping  human  error,  clearing 
human  confusion,  and  diminishing  the  sum 
of  human  misery,  the  noble  aspirations  to 
leave  the  world  better  and  happier  than  we 
found  it,  —  motives  eminently  such  as  are 
called  social,  and  contribute  not  only  to  the 
happiness  of  others,  but  also  to  our  own."  l 

There  are  blessings  in  life,  said  Bishop 
Butler,  "  which  we  share  in  common  with 
others :  peace,  plenty,  freedom,  healthful 
seasons.  But  real  benevolence  to  our  fellow- 
creatures  would  give  us  the  notion  of  a  com- 
mon interest  in  a  stricter  sense  :  for  in  the 
degree  we  love  another,  his  interest,  his  joys 
and  sorrows,  are  our  own.  It  is  from  self- 
love  that  we  form  the  notion  of  private  good, 
and  consider  it  as  our  own  :  love  of  our  neigh- 

1  Arnold,  Culture  and  Anarchy. 


186  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

hour  would  teach  us  thus  to  appropriate  to 
ourselves  his  good  and  welfare ;  to  consider 
ourselves  as  having  a  real  share  in  his  hap- 
piness. Thus  the  principle  of  benevolence 
would  be  an  advocate  within  our  own  breasts, 
to  take  care  of  the  interests  of  our  fellow- 
creatures." 

Let  then,  in  the  noble  words  of  Marcus 
Aurelius,  "  let  the  deity  which  is  in  thee  be 
the  guardian  of  a  living  being,  manly  and  of 
ripe  age,  and  engaged  in  matters  political,  and 
a  Roman,  and  a  ruler,  who  has  taken  his 
post  like  a  man  waiting  for  the  signal  which 
summons  him  from  life,  and  ready  to  go,  hav- 
ing need  neither  of  oath  nor  of  any  man's 
testimony." 

The  time  we  give  to  public  duties  is  no 
mere  sacrifice.  It  brings  its  own  reward. 

We 

"Learn  the  luxury  of  doing  good."  * 

"It  is  a  great  thing  in  times  of  trial  to 
have  merged  in  some  respects  our  private 
interests  in  the  greater  interests  of  the  com- 
mon life."  2 

1  Goldsmith.  2  Horsfall. 


xi  CITIZENSHIP  187 

All  if  they  choose  may  be  brave  men  and 
worthy  patriots :  every  one  may  take  a  part 
in  at  least  some  movement  for  the  benefit 
of  his  fellow-creatures,  to  help  them  to  live 
healthier,  happier,  and  better  lives. 

And  it  is  only  by  doing  so  that  you  will  be 
able  to  give  a  satisfactory  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion, which  sooner  or  later  you  will  assuredly 
ask  yourself  — 

"  What  hast  thou  wrought  for  Right  and  Truth, 

For  God  and  Man, 

From  the  golden  hours  of  bright-eyed  youth 
To  Life's  mid  span?"1 

1  Whittier. 


CHAPTER  XII 

SOCIAL    LIFE 

IT  is  our  proud  boast  that  every  English- 
man's House  is  his  Castle,  but  it  ought  to  be 
more ;  it  ought  to  be  his  Home.  That  it  is 
his  castle  is  his  right  by  law,  to  make  it  a 
real  home  depends  upon  himself. 

What  makes  a  "Home"  ?  Love  and  sym- 
pathy and  confidence.  The  memories  of  child- 
hood, the  kindness  of  parents,  the  bright 
hopes  of  youth,  the  sisters'  pride,  the  brothers' 
sympathy  and  help,  the  mutual  confidence, 
the  common  hopes  and  interests  and  sorrows ; 
these  create  and  sanctify  the  home. 

A  House  without  Love  may  be  a  Castle,  or 
a  Palace,  but  it  is  not  a  Home ;  Love  is  the 
life  of  a  true  home.  "  A  home  without  Love 
is  no  more  a  home,  than  a  body  without  a  soul 


is  a  man." 


188 


CHAP,  xii  SOCIAL   LIFE  189 

"  He  that  is  of  a  merry  heart  hath  a  continual  feast. 
Better  is  little  with  the  fear  of  the  Lord, 
Than  great  treasure,  and  trouble  therewith. 
Better  is  a  dinner  of  herbs  where  love  is, 
Than  a  stalled  ox  and  hatred  therewith. 

Better  is  a  dry  morsel,  and  quietness  therewith, 
Than  an  house  full  of  sacrifices  with  strife." l 

We  value  the  Home  now,  not  as  a  castle  of 
Refuge  from  the  arbitrary  power  of  the  Great 
or  of  the  State,  but  from  the  cares  and  anxie- 
ties of  life ;  as  a  Haven  of  Repose  from  the 
storms  and  tempests  which  we  must  expect 
to  encounter  in  our  voyage  through  the  world. 

In  even  the  most  successful  career  such 
times  will  come,  and  prosperity  alone  can  by 
no  means  ensure  happiness  or  peace. 

Man  was  not  made  to  live  alone,  not  even 
in  the  Garden  of  Eden.  "  Que  ferait  une  ame 
isolee,"  says  Bernardin  de  St.  Pierre,  "dans  le 
ciel  meme."  His  heart  must  be  at  home,  but 
it  is  well  to  have  work  outside.  We  are  not 
intended  entirely  either  for  society  or  for  soli- 
tude. Both  are  good,  I  might  say  neces- 
sary. 

1  Proverbs. 


190  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

"  Not  wholly  in  the  busy  world,  nor  quite 
Beyond  it,  blooms  the  garden  that  I  love ; 
News  from  the  humming  city  comes  to  it 
In  sound  of  funeral  or  of  marriage  bells ; 
And,  sitting  muffled  in  dark  leaves,  you  hear 
The  windy  clanging  of  the  minster  clock  ; 
Although  between  it  and  the  garden  lies 
A  league  of  grass,  washed  by  a  slow,  broad  stream, 
That,  stirred  with  languid  pulses  of  the  oar, 
Waves  all  its  lazy  lilies,  and  creeps  on, 
Barge  laden,  to  three  arches  of  a  bridge, 
Crowned  with  the  minster-towers." * 

The  beauties  of  Nature  are  a  joy  for  ever, 
but  sunshine  in  the  sky  is  little,  unless  there 
be  sunshine  in  the  heart  also. 

To  the  family  we  owe  the  sentiments  of 
attachment,  reverence,  and  love.  It  is  the 
basis  and  origin  of  civilisation ;  the  true  school 
of  all  that  is  best,  it  appeals  to  all  our  nobler 
feelings  and  our  highest  nature.  What  could 
Angels  do  more  than  make  others  happy. 

Your  home  may  be  humble,  ugly,  unpoetic, 
even  cold  and  uncongenial,  but  your  place  and 
your  duty  lie  there  ;  and  the  greater  the  diffi- 
culties, the  richer  will  be  the  reward. 

Patient  endurance  of  worry  or  injustice  is 

1  Tennyson,  "  The  Gardener's  Daughter." 


XII 


SOCIAL   LIFE  191 


more  difficult  than  hard  work ;  it  is  a  living 
sacrifice,  more  difficult  to  make  than  that  of 
money,  time,  or  labour. 

Few  people  really  wish  to  make  others  un- 
happy, and  those  few  would  not  be  likely  to 
read  what  I  am  saying.  But  it  is  probable 
that  on  the  whole  more  unhappiness  is  caused 
by  want  of  thought,  or  of  tact,  than  by  want 
of  heart.  Receive  every  one  with  a  bright 
smile,  kind  words,  and  a  pleasant  welcome. 
It  is  not  enough  to  love  those  who  are  dear 
to  us.  We  must  show  them  that  we  do  so. 
Many  of  us,  through  ignorance,  thoughtless- 
ness, or  want  of  judgment,  wound  those  whom 
we  love  best,  and  most  wish  to  help. 

We  all  know  ourselves  how  much  we  are 
helped  and  strengthened  by  a  few  words  of 
encouragement . 

"I  have  often  thought,"  said  Lord  Chester- 
field, "and  still  think,  that  there  are  few 
things  which  people  in  general  know  less, 
than  how  to  love  and  how  to  hate.  They 
hurt  those  they  love,  by  a  mistaken  indul- 
gence, by  a  blindness,  nay,  often  a  partiality 
to  their  faults.  Where  they  hate,  they 


192  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

hurt  themselves,  by  ill-timed  passion  and 
rage."  l 

Even  among  friends  our  life  tends  to  isola- 
tion ;  "  we  are  stationed  with  regard  to  each 
other  as  upon  different  islands,  locked  up 
within  prison  bars  of  the  bones,  and  behind 
the  curtain  of  the  skin."  2 

How  little  we  know  our  friends,  or  even 
our  relations !  Even  members  of  the  same 
family  often  live  in  practical  isolation ;  their 
minds  move  as  it  were  in  parallel  lines  and 
never  meet ;  they  are  not  really  in  touch  with 
one  another. 

"  Not  e'en  the  tenderest  heart  and  next  our  own, 
Knows  half  the  reasons  why  we  smile  or  sigh."  3 

We  discuss  the  weather,  the  crops,  the  last 
novel,  the  state  of  politics,  the  health  and  fail- 
ings of  our  neighbours,  anything  and  every- 
thing, which  has  no  relation  to  the  true  and 
inner  life.  In  fact,  the  more  trivial,  the  less 
important  anything  is,  the  more  it  seems  to 
be  talked  about ;  and  those  often  seem  to 
talk  most  who  have  really  least  to  say. 

1  Lord  Chesterfield.        2  Jean  Paul  Richter.        3  Keble. 


xii  SOCIAL   LIFE  193 

Few  people  realise  that  conversation  is  a 
great  art.  That  >  a  family  should  be  really 
united,  really  in  sympathy,  requires  not 
merely  affection,  and  good  intentions,  but 
sympathy  and  power  of  giving  out,  and  draw- 
ing out,  ideas.  If  people  do  not  amuse  you, 
try  to  amuse  them. 

People  often  pride  themselves  on  saying 
just  what  comes  into  their  minds,  and  no 
doubt  every  one  should  be  truthful  and  can- 
did, but  conversation  is  like  other  things,  and 
if  we  wish  to  make  it  interesting  we  must 
take  some  pains  with  it. 

We  may  all  do  much  to  make  the  home 
happy. 

"  To  bless  mankind  with  tides  of  flowing  wealth, 
With  power  to  grace  them,  or  to  crown  with  health, 
Our  little  lot  denies ;  but  Heaven  decrees 
To  all,  the  gift  of  ministering  ease  ; 
The  gentler  offices  of  patient  love, 
Beyond  all  flattery  and  all  praise  above."  l 

A  bad-tempered  man  punishes  himself,  no 
doubt,  more  than  others. 

"  Thus  always  teasing  others,  always  teased, 
His  only  pleasure  is  to  be  displeased,"  2 

1  Hannah  More.  2  Pope. 


194  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

and  being  never  pleased,  he  is  never  happy. 
But  unquestionably  he  does  much  to  make 
others  unhappy  also.  To  make  those  around 
us  happy  does  not  require  any  great  sacri- 
fice ;  but  mere  good  intentions  are  not  enough. 
It  requires  tact  and  study  and  practice.  To 
do  anything  well,  good  or  bad,  you  must 
practise. 

A  kind  and  sympathetic  manner  will  do 
wonders.  An  old  proverb  tells  us  that 
"  Manners  makyth  man,"  and  it  is  doubtless 
true  that  many  a  man  has  been  made  by  his 
manner  and  many  ruined  by  the  want  of  it. 
Even  when  a  Prime  Minister  selects  his 
Cabinet,  he  does  not  look  altogether  to  wis- 
dom or  eloquence  or  ability  or  character,  but 
partly  also  to  manner,  —  to  those  who  can 
get  on  well  with  others. 

Roughness  is  not  strength ;  it  is  indeed 
often  the  cloak  of  weakness.  Shakespeare  in 
his  wonderful  picture  of  Julius  Caesar  tells  us 
that  — 

"  His  life  was  gentle  and  the  elements 
So  mixed  in  him  that  Nature  might  stand  up 
And  say  to  all  the  world,  '  This  was  a  man.' " 


xii  SOCIAL   LIFE  195 

"  Concord  and  Discord  are  sometimes  sup- 
posed to  be  connected  with  a  chord  in  music. 
They  have  really  a  deeper  meaning  —  a  Union 
or  Jarring  of  hearts." 

And  if  it  is  necessary  to  find  fault,  at  least 
speak  kindly ;  especially  to  children,  for  "  the 
little  cradle  of  the  child  is  more  easily  dark- 
ened than  the  starry  heaven  of  the  man." 2 
Rubens,  we  are  told,  was  able  by  a  single 
stroke  to  convert  a  laughing  into  a  crying 
child.  In  life  we  can  all  do  so.  Even  a 
word  is  enough.  In  all  cases 

"  Speak  gently !  'tis  a  little  thing 

Dropped  in  the  heart's  deep  well ; 
The  good,  the  joy  that  it  may  bring, 
Eternity  shall  tell." 3 

It  is  also  a  good  rule  to  blame  in  private, 
and  praise  in  public.  What  is  said  in  private 
will  be  accepted  in  a  better  spirit,  will  be  felt 
to  be  kindly  meant,  and  will  really  have  more 
effect ;  while  praise  in  public  is  much  more 
inspiriting,  and  a  richer  reward. 

Above  all  things,  if  you  have  occasion  to 

1  Sir  H.  Maxwell's  Meridiana. 
2  Jean  Paul  Richter.  3  Langford. 


196  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

find  fault,  do  it  gravely,  as  if  with  regret ; 
never  show  anger  or  annoyance  if  you  can 
help  it.  "  I  would  have  punished  you,"  said 
Archytas  to  his  slave,  "if  I  had  not  been 
angry."  If  you  are  angry  at  least  pause  and 
think  before  you  speak.  Matthew  Arnold 
quotes  as  characteristic  of  the  highest  culture 
"  its  inexhaustible  indulgence,  its  consideration 
of  circumstances,  its  severe  judgment  of  actions 
joined  to  its  merciful  judgment  of  persons." 

Death  will  soon  make  all  equal.  Antici- 
pate this  then,  and  treat  every  one  with 
courtesy,  as  befits  a  gentleman. 

If  you  can  help  it,  never  leave  a  friend  in 
anger,  or  even  in  coolness.  Remember  that 
any  parting  may  be  the  last. 

Some  words  are  like  rays  of  sunshine,  others 
like  barbed  arrows  or  the  bite  of  a  serpent. 
And  if  hard  words  cut  so  deep,  how  much 
pleasure  can  kind  ones  give ! 

Good  words,  said  George  Herbert,  "  cost 
little  and  are  worth  much,"  for 

"  Many  a  shaft  at  random  sent, 
Finds  mark  the  Archer  little  meant ! 
And  many  a  word  at  random  spoken, 
May  soothe  or  wound  a  heart  that's  broken." 


XII 


SOCIAL   LIFE  197 


It  is  not  always  necessary  even  to  speak. 
When  Peter  had  denied  Christ,  we  are  told 
that  "the  Lord  looked  upon  Peter."  That 
sad  look  of  reproach  was  enough.  Peter  went 
out  and  wept  bitterly. 

As  it  is  true  that  a  look  can  give  acute  pain, 
so  also  one  kind  glance  of  the  eye  will  often 
make  a  heart  dance  with  joy.  After  a  long 
separation  how  we  long  for  the  warm  wel- 
come on  which  we  know  that  we  can  reckon ; 
while  as  we  meet  in  the  morning  a  kind  smile 
will  brighten  the  darkest  day. 

Do  not  be  too  reserved.  Do  not  be  afraid 
of  showing  your  affection.  It  is  not  enough 
to  love  if  you  seem  cold.  Be  warm  and  ten- 
der, thoughtful  and  affectionate.  Men  are 
more  helped  by  sympathy  than  by  service ; 
love  is  more  than  money,  and  a  kind  word 
will  give  more  pleasure  than  a  present. 

When  Benjamin  West  was  asked  what  had 
made  him  a  painter,  "  It  was,"  he  said,  "  my 
mother's  kiss."  "If  the  Home  duties,"  said 
Confucius,  "  are  well  performed,  what  need  is 
there  to  go  afar  to  offer  sacrifice." 

Be  very  careful  in  the  selection   of   your 


198  THE   USE    OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

friends,  "  the  most  valuable  and  fairest  fur- 
niture of  life."  1  Keep  good  company,  says 
George  Herbert,  "  and  you  will  be  of  the 
number."  "Tell  me  whom  you  live  with/' 
says  a  Spanish  proverb,  "  and  I  will  tell  you 
who  you  are."  A  man  who  is  not  a  good 
friend  to  himself  cannot  be  so  to  any  one 

else. 

"  Well  chosen  friendship,  the  most  noble 
Of  virtues,  all  our  joys  makes  double, 
And  into  halves  divides  our  trouble." 2 

The  wise  choice  of  female  friends  is  quite 
as  important.  Many  wise  men  have  been 
wrecked  by  the  Sirens,  since  the  time  of 

Solomon. 

"  Whose  heart,  though  large, 
Beguiled  by  fair  idolatresses  fell 
To  idols  foul."3 

Friendship,  said  Lilly,  "is  the  jewel  of 
human  life,"  and  a  friendless  man  is  much  to 
be  pitied,  especially  as  it  is  probably  his  own 

fault. 

"  No  one  is  so  accursed  by  fate, 
No  one  so  utterly  desolate, 
But  some  heart,  though  unknown, 
Kesponds  unto  his  own." 4 

1  Cicero.         2  Denham.        3  Milton.        4  Longfellow. 


xii  SOCIAL  LIFE  199 

Surely  it  cannot  be  necessary,  as  Keble 
sadly  says,  that  we  should  all  be  isolated  and 
alone. 

"  Each  in  his  hidden  sphere  of  joy  or  woe 
Our  hermit  spirits  dwell  and  range  apart, 
Our  eyes  see  all  around  in  gloom  or  glow 
Hues  of  their  own,  fresh  borrowed  from  the  heart," 

though  no  doubt  it  is  well  to  have  the  option 
of  sometimes  being  alone,  for  it  is  difficult  to 
love  your  neighbour  if  you  can  never  get 
away  from  him. 

It  will  almost  inevitably  happen  that  from 
time  to  time  you  will  think  you  have  cause 
of  complaint.  If  so,  be  patient  and  reason- 
able. Look  at  it  from  your  friend's  point  of 
view.  Do  nothing  in  a  hurry.  Nature  never 
does.  "  Most  haste,  worst  speed,"  says  the 
old  proverb.  But  above  all,  never  quarrel  in 
a  hurry.  Think  it  over  well.  Take  time. 
However  vexed  you  may  be  overnight,  things 
will  often  look  very  different  in  the  morn- 
ing. 

If  you  have  written  a  clever  and  conclusive, 
but  scathing  letter,  keep  it  back  till  the  next 
day,  and  it  will  very  often  never  go  at  all. 


200  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

Make  the  very  best  friends  you  can.  A 
bad  friend  is  much  worse  than  none  at  all. 

"  Enter  not  into  the  path  of  the  wicked, 
And  go  not  in  the  way  of  evil  men. 
Avoid  it,  pass  not  by  it, 

Turn  from  it,  and  pass  away. 

"  For  they  sleep  not, 

Except  they  have  done  mischief; 
And  their  sleep  is  taken  away, 
Unless  they  cause  some  to  fall. 

"  For  they  eat  the  bread  of  wickedness, 
And  drink  the  wine  of  violence. 

"  But  the  path  of  the  just 

Is  as  the  shining  light, 

That  shineth  more  and  more 

Unto  the  perfect  day." 1 

But  though  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  make 
friends  of  the  wicked  and  foolish,  it  is  unwise 
to  make  enemies  of  them,  for  they  are  very 
numerous. 

Lamb  wittily  observes  that  "  presents  en- 
dear absents,"  but  kindness  and  patience  and 
sympathy  will  do  much  more. 

Friends   may  well  claim  all  that  you  can 

1  Proverbs. 


xii  SOCIAL   LIFE  201 

afford  to  give ;  but  they  are  not  entitled  to 
ask  you  to  lend. 

"  Neither  a  borrower  nor  lender  be," 
says  Shakespeare, 

"  For  loan  oft  loses  both  itself  and  friend, 
And  borrowing  dulls  the  edge  of  husbandry." 

And  Solomon  warns  us, 

"  He  that  is  surety  for  a  stranger  shall  smart  for  it ; 
But  he  that  hateth  suretyship  is  sure." 1 

Friends  will  protect  you  from  many  dan- 
gers, and  ward  off  many  sorrows.  When 
Augustus  was  brought  to  shame  by  his 
daughter  Julia,  "  None  of  these  things,"  he 
said,  "  would  have  happened  to  me,  if  either 
Agrippa  or  Maecenas  had  lived." 

And  when  you  have  made  good  friends  — 
keep  them. 

"Those  friends  thou  hast,  and  their  adoption  tried, 
Grapple  them  to  thy  soul  with  hoops  of  steel." 2 

Give  them  no  cause  of  complaint,  however 
slight. 

And  if  death  separates,  there   is  still   the 

1  Proverbs.  2  Shakespeare. 


202  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

sweet  hope  of  seeing  them  again.     It  cannot 
make  up  to  us  for  the  loss,  but  still 

"  'Tis  sweet,  as  year  by  year  we  lose 
Friends  out  of  sight,  in  faith  to  muse 
How  grows  in  Paradise  our  store." l 

The  most  important  step  in  life  is  marriage. 
Love  seems  to  beautify  and  inspire  all  nature. 
It  raises  the  earthly  caterpillar  into  the  ethe- 
real butterfly,  it  paints  the  feathers  in  spring, 
it  lights  the  glowworm's  lamp,  it  wakens  the 
song  of  birds,  and  inspires  the  poet's  lay. 
Even  inanimate  Nature  seems  to  feel  the 
spell,  and  flowers  glow  with  the  richest  col- 
ours. 

A  man,  says  Simonides,  "  cannot  have  any 
greater  blessing  than  a  good  wife,  or  any 
greater  curse  than  a  bad  one." 

"  A  continual  dropping  in  a  very  rainy  day 
And  a  contentious  woman  are  alike." 2 

"  It  is  better  to  dwell  in  a  corner  of  the  house-top, 
Than  with  a  brawling  woman  in  a  wide  house." 3 

As  regards  the  selection,  it  is  probably  not 
easy  to  give  advice  of  much  value.  Some 

i  Keble.  *  Proverbs.  3  Ibid. 


XII 


SOCIAL   LIFE  203 


considerations  indeed  are  almost  self-evident. 
It  is  not  well  to  marry  too  early.  When  two 
very  young  people  marry,  it  is,  says  Sir  H. 
Taylor,  "  as  if  one  sweet-pea  should  be  put  as 
a  prop  to  another."  Do  not  marry  for  money, 
nor  without  money.  Those  who  marry  for 
money  "  show  themselves  to  be  less  than 
money  by  over- valuing  that  to  all  the  content 
and  wise  felicity  of  their  lives :  and  when 
they  have  counted  the  money  and  their  sor- 
rows together,  how  willingly  would  they  buy 
with  the  loss  of  all  that  money "  l  the  life 
they  have  sold. 

Do  not  imagine  that  in  marriage  you  can 
go  on  living  your  "  own  substantive  life  with 
the  additional  embellishment  of  some  grace- 
ful, simple,  gay,  easy-hearted  creature,  who 
would  lie  light  upon  the  surface  of  one's  be- 
ing, be  at  hand  whenever  solitude  and  serious 
pursuits  had  become  irksome,  and  never  be  in 
the  way  when  she  was  not  wanted.  Visions 
these  are ;  merely  dreams  of  our  Epicurean 
youth."  2 

1  Jeremy  Taylor,  The  Marriage  Ring. 

2  Sir  H.  Taylor,  Notes  from  Life. 


204  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

Homer,  says  Jeremy  Taylor,  "  adds  many 
soft  appellations  to  the  character  of  a  hus- 
band's duty.  Thou  art  to  be  a  Father  and 
Mother  to  her,  and  a  Brother  :  and  with  great 
reason,  unless  the  state  of  marriage  should  be 
no  better  than  the  condition  of  an  orphan. 
For  she  that  is  bound  to  leave  Father  and 
Mother,  and  Brother  for  thee,  either  is  miser- 
able like  a  poor  fatherless  child,  or  else  ought 
to  find  all  these,  and  more,  in  thee."  l 

If  you  have  the  least  doubt  about  it,  do 
not  marry.  The  married  state  is  either  very 
happy  or  very  miserable. 

Marriage  is  a  great  responsibility.  Do  not 
trust  altogether  to,  or  be  beguiled  by,  the  eye, 
for  "  marriages  are  not  to  be  contracted  by 
the  hands  and  eye,  but  with  reason  and  the 
hearts."  2 

A  good  wife  is  a  helpmeet,  not  in  material 
things  only,  but  in  those  of  the  mind  also. 
"  Base  men,"  says  Shakespeare,  "  being  in 
love  have  then  a  nobility  in  their  natures 
more  than  is  native  to  them."  And  if  even 
base  men  are  so  powerfully  affected  for  good, 

1  The  Marriage  Ring.  2  Jeremy  Taylor, 


xii  SOCIAL   LIFE  205 

how   much    more   those    who    have    nobility 
already  in  their  nature !     For 

"And  there  are  souls  that  seem  to  dwell 
Above  this  earth,  so  rich  a  spell 
Floats  round  their  steps,  where'er  they  move, 
From  hopes  fulfilled  and  mutual  love." 1 

"  Marriage,"  says  Jeremy  Taylor,  "  is  divine 
in  its  institution,  sacred  in  its  union,  holy  in 
the  mystery,  sacramental  in  its  signification, 
honourable  in  its  appellative,  religious  in  its 
employments :  it  is  advantage  to  the  societies 
of  men,  and  it  is  <  holiness  to  the  Lord.'  " 2 

If  a  marriage  is  happy,  says  Tertullian, 
"how  are  we  to  find  words  to  express  that 
happiness  ?  .  .  .  Together  they  pray,  to- 
gether they  worship,  together  they  fast  .  .  . 
together  in  difficulties,  in  adversities,  in  re- 
freshments. Neither  hides  anything  from  the 
other,  neither  is  a  burden  to  the  other.  Christ 
joys  when  He  sees  such  things.  To  these  He 
sends  His  peace.  Where  two  are,  there  is 
He,  and  where  He  is,  the  evil  one  is  not." 

You  take  your  wife,  in  the  solemn  and 
beautiful  words  of  our  marriage  service,  "  for 

1  Keble.  2  The  Marriage  Ring. 


206  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

better  for  worse,  for  richer  for  poorer,  in  sick- 
ness and  in  health,  to  love  and  to  cherish,  till 
death  you  do  part." 

"A  happy  marriage,"  says  Stanley,  "is  a 
new  beginning  of  life,  a  new  starting-point 
for  happiness  and  usefulness ;  it  is  the  great 
opportunity  once  for  all  to  leave  the  past, 
with  all  its  follies  and  faults  and  errors,  far, 
far  behind  us  for  ever,  and  to  press  forward 
with  new  hopes,  and  new  courage,  and  new 
strength  into  the  future  which  opens  before 
us.  A  happy  home  is  the  best  likeness  of 
heaven;  a  home  where  husband  and  wife, 
father  and  mother,  brother  and  sister,  child 
and  parent,  each  in  their  several  ways,  help 
each  the  other  forward  in  their  different  course 
as  no  other  human  being  can ;  for  none  else 
has  the  same  opportunities ;  none  else  so 
knows  the  character  of  any  other ;  none  else 
has  such  an  interest  at  stake  in  the  welfare, 
and  the  fame,  and  the  grace,  and  the  good- 
ness of  any  one  else  as  of  those  who  are  bone 
of  his  bone,  and  flesh  of  his  flesh,  in  whose 
happiness  and  glory  we  ourselves  become 
happy  and  glorious,  in  whose  misery  we  be- 


xii  SOCIAL   LIFE  207 

come  miserable,  by  whose  selfishness  and 
weakness  and  worldliness  we  are  dragged 
down  to  earth,  by  whose  purity  and  nobleness 
and  strength  we  are  raised  up,  almost  against 
our  will,  to  duty,  to  heaven,  and  to  God." 

Finally,  children  are  a  great,  but  none  the 
less  a  delightful,  responsibility.  They  are 
sometimes  spoken  of  as  "  sent,"  and  improvi- 
dent parents  excuse  themselves  by  saying  that 
"  if  God  sends  mouths,  He  will  send  food  to  fill 
them,"  but  Matthew  Arnold  justly  observes 
that  there  is  no  justification  for  bringing  poor 
little  children  into  the  world  whom  you  can- 
not keep  decently,  in  reasonable  comfort  and 
not  too  precariously. 

Let  them  grow  up  in  the  sunshine  of  love ; 
if  their  childhood  is  blest  with  the  genial 
warmth  of  affection,  they  will  better  endure 
the  cold  of  life. 

"No  man  can  tell  but  he  that  loves  his 
children,  how  many  delicious  accents  make 
a  man's  heart  dance  in  the  pretty  conversa- 
tion of  those  dear  pledges  ;  their  childishness, 
their  stammering,  their  little  angers,  their 
innocence,  their  imperfections,  their  necessi- 


208  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP,  xn 

ties,  are  so  many  little  emanations  of  joy 
and  comfort  to  him  that  delights  in  their  per- 
sons and  society ;  but  he  that  loves  not  his 
Wife  and  Children,  feeds  a  Lioness  at  home, 
and  broods  a  nest  of  Sorrows ;  and  Blessing 
itself  cannot  make  him  happy;  so  that  all 
the  Commandments  of  God  injoyning  a  man 
to  love  his  wife,  are  nothing  but  so  many 
Necessities  and  Capacities  of  joy."  * 

1  Jeremy  Taylor. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

INDUSTRY 

NEVER  waste  anything,  but,  above  all, 
never  waste  time.  To-day  comes  but  once 
and  never  returns.  Time  is  one  of  Heaven's 
richest  gifts  ;  and  once  lost  is  irrecoverable. 

"  Not  Heaven  itself  upon  the  past  has  power, 
For  what  has  been,  has  been ;  and  I  have  had  my 
hour."  l 

Do  not  spend  your  time  so  now,  that  you 
will  reproach  yourself  hereafter.  There  are 
no  sadder  thoughts  than  "  Too  late,"  and  "  It 
might  have  been."  Time  is  a  trust,  and  for 
every  minute  of  it  you  will  have  to  account. 
Be  "  spare  of  sleep,  spare  of  diet,  and  sparest 
of  time." 

Nelson  once  said  that  he  attributed  all  his 

1  Dry  den. 
p  209 


210  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

success  in  life  to  having  always  been  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  before  his  time. 

"  The  young,"  said  Lord  Melbourne,  "should 
never  hear  any  language  but  this:  you  have 
your  own  way  to  make,  and  it  depends  upon 
your  own  exertions  whether  you  starve  or 
not." 

Industry,  moreover,  is  not  only  essential  to 
success,  but  has  a  most  healthy  influence  on 
the  moral  character.  "Never  be  idle,"  said 
Jeremy  Taylor,  but  "fill  up  all  the  spaces  of 
thy  time  with  a  severe  and  useful  employ- 
ment ;  for  lust  easily  creeps  in  at  these  empti- 
nesses where  the  soul  is  unemployed,  and  the 
body  is  at  ease ;  for  no  easy,  healthful,  idle 
person  was  ever  chaste  if  he  could  be  tempted ; 
but  of  all  employments,  bodily  labour  is  the 
most  useful,  and  of  the  greatest  benefit  for 
driving  away  the  devil." 

Time  and  Earth,  in  the  words  of  Keble, 
"  are  the  preparations  for  Heaven  and  Eter- 
nity ;  and  such  as  we  make  our  moments 
here,  such  will  God  make  our  ages  in  the 
world  to  come." 

To  do  something  however  small,  to  make 


xin  INDUSTRY  211 

others  happier  and  better,  is  the  highest  am- 
bition, the  most  elevating  hope,  which  can  in- 
spire a  human  being. 

Pietro  Medici  is  said  to  have  once  em- 
ployed Michael  Angelo  to  make  a  statue 
out  of  snow.  That  was  a  stupid  waste  of 
precious  time.  But  if  Michael  Angelo' s  time 
was  precious  to  the  world,  our  time  is  just  as 
precious  to  ourselves,  and  yet  we  too  often 
waste  it  in  making  statues  of  snow,  and,  even 
worse,  in  making  idols  of  mire. 

"  We  all  complain,"  said  the  great  Roman 
philosopher  and  statesman,  Seneca,  "  of  the 
shortness  of  time,  and  yet  we  have  more  than 
we  know  what  to  do  with.  Our  lives  are 
spent  either  in  doing  nothing  at  all,  or  in 
doing  nothing  to  the  purpose,  or  in  doing 
nothing  that  we  ought  to  do.  We  are  always 
complaining  that  our  days  are  few ;  and  act- 
ing as  though  there  would  be  no  end  to  them." 

It  is  astonishing  what  can  be  done  by 
economy  of  time.  "  Nehemiah  could  find 
time  to  dart  up  a  successful  prayer  to  the 
Throne  of  Grace  whilst  he  stood  waiting 
behind  the  King  of  Persia's  chair." 


212  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

And  yet,  fill  up  our  time  as  well  and  as 
wisely  as  we  may,  even  the  most  fortunate 
of  us  must  leave  many  things  undone,  many 
books  unread,  many  a  glorious  sight  unseen, 
many  a  country  un visited. 

One  great,  I  might  almost  say  the  great 
element,  of  success  and  happiness  in  life,  is 
the  capacity  for  honest  solid  work.  Cicero 
said  that  what  was  required  was  first  audac- 
ity, what  was  second  was  audacity,  and  what 
was  third  was  audacity.  Self-confidence  is 
no  doubt  useful,  but  it  would  be  more  correct 
to  say  that  what  was  wanted  was  firstly  per- 
severance, secondly  perseverance,  and  thirdly 
perseverance.  Work  is  not  of  course,  any 
more  than  play,  the  object  of  Life ;  both  are 
means  to  the  same  end. 

Work  is  as  necessary  for  peace  of  mind  as 
for  health  of  body.  A  day  of  worry  is  more 
exhausting  than  a  week  of  work.  Worry 
upsets  our  whole  system,  work  keeps  it  in 
health  and  order.  Exercise  of  the  muscles 
keeps  the  body  in  health,  and  exercise  of  the 
brain  brings  peace  of  mind.  "  By  work  of  the 
Mind  one  secures  the  repose  of  the  Heart."  l 

1  Jancourt. 


XIII 


INDUSTRY  213 


"  Give  a  girl  any  true  work  that  will  make 
her  active  in  the  dawn,  and  weary  at  night, 
with  the  consciousness  that  her  fellow-creat- 
ures have  indeed  been  the  better  for  her  day. 
and  the  powerless  sorrow  of  her  enthusiasm 
will  transform  itself  into  a  majesty  of  radiant 
and  beneficent  peace." 

Do  what  you  will,  only  do  something. 
Even  attempts  to  find  the  philosopher's 
stone  and  to  square  the  circle  have  borne 
some  fruit. 

"  Words/'  said  Dr.  Johnson,  "  are  the 
daughters  of  Earth,  and  Deeds  are  the  sons 
of  Heaven,"  and  whatever  you  do,  do  thor- 
oughly. Put  your  heart  into  it.  Cultivate 
all  your  faculties  :  you  must  either  use  them 
or  lose  them.  We  are  told  of  Hezekiah  that 
"  in  every  work  that  he  began,  ...  he  did 
it  with  all  his  heart,  and  prospered."  2 

"  The  story  of  genius  even,  so  far  as  it  can 
be  told  at  all,  is  the  story  of  persistent  indus- 
try in  the  face  of  obstacles,  and  some  of  the 
standard  geniuses  give  us  their  word  for  it 
that  genius  is  little  more  than  industry.  A 

1  Ruskiii.  '2  2  Chron. 


214  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

woman  like  '  George  Eliot '  laughs  at  the 
idea  of  writing  her  novels  by  inspiration. 
'  Genius,'  President  Dwight  used  to  tell  the 
boys  at  Yale,  i  is  the  power  of  making 
efforts.'  "  l 

Begging  is  after  all  harder  than  working, 
and  taking  it  altogether,  does  not  pay  so 
well.  Every  man,  moreover,  should  stand 
upon  his  own  feet.  A  ploughman  on  his 
feet,  says  Franklin,  is  higher  than  a  gentle- 
man on  his  knees. 

Cobbett,  speaking  of  his  celebrated  English 
grammar,  tells  us  that :  "I  learned  grammar 
when  I  was  a  private  soldier  on  the  pay  of 
sixpence  a  day.  The  edge  of  my  berth,  or 
that  of  the  guard  bed,  was  my  seat  to  study 
in ;  my  knapsack  was  my  bookcase ;  a  bit  of 
board  lying  on  my  lap  was  my  writing-table ; 
and  the  task  did  not  demand  anything  like  a 
year  of  my  life.  .  I  had  no  money  to  purchase 
candle  or  oil ;  in  winter  time  it  was  rarely 
that  I  could  get  any  evening  light  but  that  of 
the  fire,  and  only  my  turn  even  of  that.  ... 
Think  not  lightly  of  the  farthing  that  I  had 

1  Garnett. 


XIII 


INDUSTRY  215 


to  give,  now  and  then,  for  ink,  pen,  or  paper. 
That  farthing  was,  alas  !  a  great  sum  to  me  : 
I  was  as  tall  as  I  am  now  ;  I  had  great  health 
and  great  exercise.  The  whole  of  the  money, 
not  expended  for  us  at  market,  was  twopence 
a  week  for  each  man.  I  remember,  and  well 
I  may,  that  upon  one  occasion  I,  after  all  ab- 
solutely necessary  expenses,  had,  on  a  Friday, 
made  shift  to  have  a  halfpenny  in  reserve, 
which  I  had  destined  for  the  purchase  of  a 
red  herring  in  the  morning;  but,  when  I 
pulled  off  my  clothes  at  night,  so  hungry 
then  as  to  be  hardly  able  to  endure  life,  I 
found  that  I  had  lost  my  halfpenny !  I 
buried  my  head  under  the  miserable  sheet 
and  rug,  and  cried  like  a  child  !  And,  again. 
I  say,  if  I,  under  circumstances  like  these, 
could  encounter  and  overcome  this  task,  is 
there,  can  there  be,  in  the  whole  world,  a 
youth  to  find  an  excuse  for  the  non-perform- 
ance?" 

Cobbett  had  no  money,  but  he  had  energy 
and  courage.  "  Most  men,"  says  Bacon, 
"  seem  neither  to  understand  their  riches  nor 
their  strength :  of  the  former  they  believe 


216  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

greater  things  than  they  should  ;  of  the  latter 
much  less.  Self-reliance  and  self-denial  will 
teach  a  man  to  drink  out  of  his  own  cistern, 
and  eat  his  own  sweet  bread,  and  to  learn 
and  labour  truly  to  get  his  living,  and  care- 
fully to  expend  the  good  things  committed  to 
his  trust." 

There  is  an  Oriental  proverb  that 

"  Good  striving 
Brings  thriving : 
Better  a  dog  that  works 
Than  a  lion  who  shirks." 

"Work,"  says  Nature  to  Man,  "in  every 
hour,  paid  or  unpaid;  see  only  that  thou 
work,  and  thou  canst  not  escape  the  reward  : 
whether  thy  work  be  fine  or  coarse,  planting 
corn  or  writing  epics,  so  only  it  be  honest 
work,  done  to  thine  own  approbation,  it  shall 
earn  a  reward  to  the  senses  as  well  as  to  the 
thought ;  no  matter  how  often  defeated,  you 
are  born  to  victory.  The  reward  of  a  thing 
well  done,  is  to  have  done  it." 1 

The  great  wizard,  Michael  Scott,  as  Sir 
Walter  Scott  has  told  us,  found  he  could  only 

1  Emerson. 


xin  INDUSTRY  217 

secure  himself  against  his  familiar  Devil  by 
constantly  providing  him  with  employment. 
The  same  applies  to  us  all.  St.  Paul  says 
that  the  Evil  Spirit  having  been  driven  out 
of  a  man,  returned  when  he  found  the  house 
empty,  and  entered  in  with  seven  other 
spirits  worse  than  himself. 

Idleness  is  not  rest.  It  is  more  tiring  than 
work.  The  Romans  had  a  proverb,  "  Difficilis 
in  otio  quies."  It  is  difficult  to  rest  if  you 
are  doing  nothing. 

Never  hurry.  Nature  never  does.  The 
first  piece  of  advice  which  a  Swiss  guide  gives 
to  a  young  mountaineer,  and  that  to  which 
he  returns  most  often,  is  that  one  should  go 
"  immer  langsam,"  slowly  and  steadily;  or 
"plus  doucement  on  monte,  plus  vite  on  ar- 
rive au  sommet,"  not  trying  to  walk  too  fast, 
but  not  loitering.  By  all  means  pause  now 
and  then ;  even  the  strong  ox  requires  to  do  so, 
and  the  furlong,  or  "  furrow  long,"  measures 
the  distance  after  which  it  is  well  to  give 
him  a  rest.  But  in  life  also  the  great  secret 
of  progress  is  never  to  hurry  and  never  to 
loiter.  "  Haste,"  says  an  Eastern  proverb, 


218  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

"  cometh  of  the  Evil  One,  but  patience  open- 
eth  the  gate  of  felicity." 

Many  people  seem  to  think  that  they  can 
save  time  by  hurrying.  It  is  a  great  mis- 
take. It  is  well  to  move  briskly ;  but  it  is  far 
more  important  to  do  a  thing  well,  than  to 
get  through  it  quickly. 

Moreover,  even  as  regards  the  work  itself, 
if  it  is  done  irregularly,  by  fits  and  starts  and 
in  a  hurry,  it  is  much  more  exhausting,  much 
more  really  laborious,  than,  if  taken  slowly, 
steadily,  and  regularly  without  hurry  and 
bustle.  Hurry  not  only  spoils  work,  but 
spoils  life  also. 

"  Work  without  haste  and  without  rest/' 
was  Goethe's  maxim,  though  our  word  "  rest " 
does  not  exactly  express  his  idea. 

"  Haste  not,  let  no  thoughtless  deed 
Mar  for  aye  the  spirit's  speed ; 
Ponder  well,  and  know  the  right, 
Onward  then,  and  know  thy  might ; 
Haste  not,  years  can  ne'er  atone 
For  one  reckless  action  done. 

"  Rest  not,  Life  is  sweeping  by, 
Go  and  dare,  before  you  die : 
Something  mighty  and  sublime 


xin  INDUSTRY  219 

Leave  behind  to  conquer  time  ; 

Glorious  'tis  to  live  for  aye, 

When  these  forms  have  pass'd  away." l 

Work  hard  then,  but  do  not  hurry,  do  not 
fuss,  and  do  not  be  anxious. 

"  Interest  yourself/'  says  Mr.  Francis  Gal- 
ton,  "  chiefly  in  the  progress  of  your  journey, 
and  do  not  look  forward  to  its  end  with 
eagerness.  It  is  better  to  think  of  a  return 
to  civilisation,  not  as  an  end  to  hardship  and 
a  haven  from  ill,  but  as  a  thing  to  be  regretted, 
and  as  a  close  to  an  adventurous  and  pleasant 
life.  In  this  way,  risking  less,  you  will  in- 
sensibly creep  on,  making  connections,  and 
learning  the  capabilities  of  the  country  as  you 
advance,  which  will  be  found  invaluable  in 
the  case  of  a  hurried  or  a  disastrous  return. 
And  thus,  when  some  months  have  passed  by, 
you  will  look  back  with  surprise  on  the  great 
distance  travelled  over;  for  if  you  average 
only  three  miles  a  day  at  the  end  of  the  year 
you  will  have  advanced  1000,  which  is  a  very 
considerable  exploration.  The  fable  of  the 
hare  and  the  tortoise  seems  expressly  in- 

1  Goethe. 


220  THE    USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

tended  for  travellers  over  wide  and  unknown 
tracts." 

Rise  early,  give  to  muscles  and  brain  their 
fair  share  of  exercise  and  rest,  be  temperate 
in  food,  allow  yourself  a  reasonable  allowance 
of  sleep,  take  things  easily,  and  depend  upon 
it  your  work  will  not  hurt  you.  Worry  and 
excitement,  impatience  and  anxiety,  will  not 
get  you  on  in  your  work,  and  may  kill  you 
in  the  end,  or  at  any  rate  hand  you  over  a 
victim  to  some  attack  of  illness ;  but  if  you 
take  life  cheerfully  and  peacefully,  intellect- 
ual exertion  and  free  thought  are  to  the  mind, 
what  exercise  and  fresh  air  are  to  the  body ; 
they  will  prolong,  not  shorten  your  life. 

"Perseverance  .  .  . 

Keeps  honour  bright :  to  have  done  is  to  hang 
Quite  out  of  fashion,  like  a  rusty  mail 
In  monumental  mockery." l 

Perseverance  "  is  the  Statesman's  brain, 
the  Warrior's  sword,  the  Inventor's  secret, 
the  Scholar's  '  Open  sesame.'"2  Our  gra- 
cious Queen  has  been  one  of  the  very  best 

1  Shakespeare. 

2  Adam's  Plain  Living  and  High  Thinking. 


xin  INDUSTRY  221 

sovereigns  in  History.  And  why?  no  doubt 
she  has  great  judgment  and  tact,  but  she 
has  spared  herself  no  labour.  The  spirit 
in  which  she  has  worked  is  indicated  in  a 
remark  to  Lord  Monteagle,  quoted  in  Mrs. 
Jameson's  Memoirs.  In  reply  to  some  ex- 
pression of  regret  on  his  part  that  he  was 
obliged  to  trouble  her  on  business,  she  said, 
"  Never  mention  to  me  the  word  '  trouble.' 
Only  tell  me  how  the  thing  is  to  be  done,  to 
be  done  rightly,  and  I  will  do  it  if  I  can." 

Whatever  your  duties  or  business  in  life 
may  be,  try  to  do  it  as  well  as  it  can  be 
done. 

The  Duke  of  Wellington  owed  his  victories 
almost  as  much  to  his  being  a  good  man  of 
business  as  a  great  General.  He  paid  the 
most  careful  attention  to  all  the  details  of 
his  supplies  and  commissariat ;  and  his  horses 
had  plenty  of  fodder,  his  troops  were  well 
supplied  with  warm  clothes,  strong  boots, 
and  good  food. 

"Seest  thou  a  man  diligent  in  his  busi- 
ness," says  Solomon;  "he  shall  stand  before 
kings;"  and  St.  Paul  tells  us  to  be  "not 


222  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

slothful  in  business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving 
the  Lord." 

Industry  brings  its  own  reward.  Colum- 
bus discovered  America  while  searching  for 
a  western  passage  to  India ;  and,  as  Goethe 
pointed  out,  Saul  found  a  kingdom  while  he 
was  looking  for  his  father's  asses. 

"Resolve,"  said  Franklin,  "to  perform 
what  you  ought,  and  perform  without  fail 
what  you  resolve." 

It  is  sometimes  supposed  that  genius  may 
take  the  place  of  work.  We  read  of  men  at 
College  who  idled  their  first  years,  who  only 
worked  at  high  pressure  for  a  short  time, 
with  a  wet  towel  round  their  heads,  and  yet 
took  a  high  degree.  Depend  upon  it  they 
paid  dearly  for  the  wet  towel  afterwards. 
But  even  so,  they  had  to  work.  Many  of  the 
greatest  men  have  owed  their  success  to  rh- 
dustry  rather  than  to  cleverness,  if  we  can 
judge  from  their  school  record.  Wellington 
and  Napoleon,  Clive,  Scott,  Sheridan,  and 
Burns  are  all  said  to  have  been  dull  boys  at 
school. 

No  doubt  some  men  are  much  more  gifted 


XIII 


INDUSTRY  223 


than  others.  But  let  two  men  start  in  life, 
the  one  with  brilliant  abilities,  but  careless, 
idle,  and  self-indulgent ;  the  other  compara- 
tively slow,  but  industrious,  careful,  and  high- 
principled,  and  he  will  in  time  distance  his 
more  brilliant  competitor.  No  advantage  in 
life,  no  cleverness,  no  rich  friends  or  powerful 
relations  will  make  up  for  the  want  of  indus- 
try and  character. 

Grosteste,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  and  a  great 
statesman,  had  an  idle  brother  who  once  came 
and  asked  to  be  made  a  great  man.  "  Brother," 
replied  the  Bishop,  "  if  your  plough  is  broken, 
I'll  pay  for  the  mending  of  it ;  or,  if  your  ox 
should  die,  I'll  buy  you  another  ;  but  I  cannot 
make  a  great  man  of  you ;  a  ploughman  I 
found  you,  and  I  fear  a  ploughman  I  must 
leave  you." 

Milton  was  not  merely  a  man  of  genius,  but 
of  indomitable  industry.  He  thus  describes 
his  own  habits  :  "  In  winter,  often  ere  the 
sound  of  any  bell  wakes  man  to  labour  or 
devotion ;  in  summer,  as  oft  with  the  bird 
that  first  rouses,  or  not  much  tardier,  to  read 
good  authors,  or  to  cause  them  to  be  read  till 


224  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

the  attention  be  ready,  or  memory  have  its 
full  freight ;  then,  with  clear  and  generous 
labour,  preserving  the  body's  health  and  hardi- 
ness, to  render  lightsome,  clear,  and  not  lump- 
ish obedience  to  the  mind,  to  the  cause  of 
religion,  and  our  country's  liberty." 

Do  not  look  on  your  work  as  a  dull  duty. 
If  you  choose  you  can  make  it  interesting. 
Throw  your  heart  into  it,  master  its  meaning, 
trace  out  the  causes  and  previous  history,  con- 
sider it  in  all  its  bearings,  think  how  many, 
even  the  humblest,  labour  may  benefit,  and 
there  is  scarcely  one  of  our  duties  which  we 
may  not  look  to  with  enthusiasm.  You  will 
get  to  love  your  work,  and  if  you  do  it  with 
delight  you  will  do  it  with  ease.  Even  if  you 
find  this  at  first  impossible,  if  for  a  time  it 
seems  mere  drudgery,  this  may  be  just  what 
you  require ;  it  may  be  good,  like  mountain 
air,  to  brace  up  your  character.  Our  Scandi- 
navian ancestors  worshipped  Thor,  wielding 
his  hammer ;  and  in  the  old  Norse  myth 
Yoland  is  said  to  have  sold  his  soul  to  the 
Devil,  in  order  to  be  the  best  smith  in  the 
world ;  which,  however,  was  going  too  far. 


XIII 


INDUSTRY  225 


It  is  a  great  question  how  much  time  should 
be  given  to  sleep.  Nature  must  decide.  Some 
people  require  much  more  than  others.  I  do 
not  think  it  possible  to  diminish  the  amount 
which  Nature  demands.  Nor  can  time  spent 
in  real  sleep  be  said  to  be  wasted.  It  is  a 
wonderful  restorer  of  nervous  energy,  of 
which  those  who  live  in  cities  never  have 
enough. 

Sir  E.  Cooke's  division  of  the  day  was  — 

"  Six  hours  in  sleep,  in  law's  grave  study  six, 
Four  spend  in  prayer  — the  rest  on  Nature  fix." 

Sir  W.  Jones  amended  this  into  — 

"  Six  hours  to  law,  to  soothing  slumber  seven, 
Ten  to  the  world  allot,  and  all  to  Heaven." 

Neither  six  nor  seven  hours  would  be  enough 
for  me.  '  We  must  sleep  till  we  are  so  far 
refreshed  as  to  wake  up,  and  not  down. 

In  times  of  sorrow,  occupation,  which  diverts 
our  thoughts,  is  often  a  great  comfort.  Indeed 
many  of  us  torment  ourselves  in  hours  of  leis- 
ure with  idle  fears  and  unnecessary  anxieties. 
Keep  yourselves  always  occupied. 


CHAP. 


226  THE   USE   OF   LIFE 

"  So  shall  thou  find  in  work  and  thought 
The  peace  that  sorrow  cannot  give."  l 

"  Every  place,"  says  old  Lilly,  "  is  a  coun- 
try to  a  wise  man,  and  all  parts  a  palace  to  a 
quiet  mind." 

Work,  moreover,  with,  and  not  against  Na- 
ture. Do  not  row  against  the  stream  if  you 
can  help  it ;  but  if  you  must,  you  must.  Do 
not  then  shrink  from  it;  but  Nature  will 
generally  work  for  us  if  we  will  only  let 
her. 

•'For  as  in  that  which  is  above  Nature,  so 
in  Nature  itself  :  he  that  breaks  one  physical 
law  is  guilty  of  all.  The  whole  universe,  as 
it  were,  takes  up  arms  against  him,  and  all 
Nature,  with  her  numberless  and  unseen  pow- 
ers, is  ready  to  avenge  herself  upon  him,  and 
on  his  children  after  him,  he  knows  not  when 
nor  where.  He,  on  the  other  hand,  who  obeys 
the  law  of  Nature  with  his  whole  heart  and 
mind,  will  find  all  things  working  together  to 
him  for  good.  He  is  at  peace  with  the  physi- 
cal universe.  He  is  helped  and  befriended 
alike  by  the  sun  above  his  head  and  the  dust 

1  Stirling. 


XIII 


INDUSTRY  227 


beneath  his  feet :  because  he  is  obeying  the 
will  and  mind  of  Him  who  made  sun,  and 
dust,  and  all. things  :  and  who  has  given  them 
a  law  which  cannot  be  broken."  * 

1  Kingsley. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

FAITH 

WE  are  told  in  statistical  works  that  out 
of  1,500,000,000  of  human  beings  there  are 
500,000,000  Buddhists,  350,000,000  Chris- 
tians, 200,000,000  Hindoos,  and  150,000,000 
Mahomedans;  but  Selden,1  though  he  goes 
into  the  opposite  extreme,  was  doubtless 
nearer  the  mark  when  he  observes  that  "men 
say  they  are  of  the  same  religion  for  quiet- 
ness' sake;  but  if  the  matter  was  well  ex- 
amined, you  would  scarce  find  three  anywhere 
of  the  same  religion  on  all  points."  It  is  no 
wonder  that  this  should  be  so,  for  as  we  know 
in  reality  so  very  little  even  about  our  own 
world,  we  cannot  expect  to  be  better  informed 
about  another. 

"  The  wonderful  world,"   says  Canon  Lid- 

1  Table  Talk. 
228 


CHAP,  xiv  FAITH  229 

don,  "  in  which  we  now  pass  this  stage  of  our 
existence,  whether  the  higher  world  of  faith 
be  open  to  our  gaze  or  not,  is  a  very  temple 
of  many  and  august  mysteries.  You  will 
walk,  perhaps,  to-morrow  afternoon  into  the 
country ;  and  here  or  there  the  swelling  buds, 
or  the  first  fresh  green  of  the  opening  leaf, 
will  remind  you  that  already  spring  is  about 
to  re-enact  before  your  eyes  the  beautiful 
spectacle  of  her  yearly  triumph.  Everywhere 
around  you  are  evidences  of  the  existence  and 
movement  of  a  mysterious  power  which  you 
can  neither  see,  nor  touch,  nor  define,  nor 
measure,  nor  understand.  This  power  lives 
speechless,  noiseless,  unseen,  yet  energetic,  in 
every  bough  above  your  head,  in  every  blade 
of  grass  beneath  your  feet." 

Doubt  is  indeed  the  very  foundation  of 
philosophy.  We  live  in  a  world  of  mystery ; 
and  if  we  cannot  explain  the  simplest  flower, 
or  the  smallest  insect,  how  can  we  expect  to 
understand  the  infinite?  "  We  acknowledge," 
says  Dr.  Martineau,  "  space  and  silence  to  be 
His  attributes  ;  and  when  the  evening  dew  has 
laid  the  noonday  dust  of  care,  and  the  vision 


230  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

strained  by  microscopic  anxieties  takes  the 
wide  sweep  of  meditation,  and  earth  sleeps  as 
a  desert  beneath  the  starry  Infinite,  the  un- 
speakable Presence  wraps  us  close  again,  and 
startles  us  in  the  wild  night-wind,  and  gazes 
straight  into  our  eyes  from  those  ancient 
lights  of  heaven." 

"  Human  existence/'  says  John  Stuart  Mill,1 
"  is  girt  round  with  mystery  ;  the  narrow  re- 
gion of  our  experience  is  a  small  island  in  the 
midst  of  a  boundless  sea,  which  at  once  awes 
our  feelings  and  stimulates  our  imagination 
by  its  vastness  and  obscurity.  To  add  to  the 
mystery,  the  domain  of  our  earthly  existence 
is  not  only  an  island  in  infinite  space,  but  also 
in  infinite  time." 

But  if  we  find  ourselves  continually  com- 
pelled to  remain  in  ignorance,  and  to  suspend 
our  judgment,  we  need  not  on  that  account 
lose  hope. 

"  And  so  we  say  that  iii  the  dim  hereafter, 
Or  be  it  dawn  or  twilight,  noon  or  night, 
The  thread  of  that  great  scheme  whereof  this  life 
Is,  as  a  something  tells  us,  but  a  part, 
Shall  not  be  lost,  but  taken  up  again 
And  woven  into  one  completed  whole.'7 
1    Utility  of  Reliyion. 


xiv  FAITH  231 

We  feel  much  which  we  cannot  explain. 
This  is  not  confined  to  theology.  "  If  you 
ask  me,"  said  St.  Augustine,  "what  is  Time, 
I  cannot  tell  you ;  but  I  know  quite  well,  if 
you  do  not  ask  me." 

Wesley  described  himself  as 

"  Weary  of  all  this  wordy  strife, 

These  notions,  forms,  and  modes,  and  names, 
To  Thee,  the  Way,  the  Truth,  the  Life, 

Whose  love  my  simple  heart  inflames  — 
Divinely  taught,  at  last  I  fly, 
With  Thee  and  Thine  to  live  and  die." 

"  Those  who  tell  me,"  says  Martineau,  "  too 
much  about  God ;  who  speak  as  if  they  knew 
His  motive  and  His  plan  in  everything ;  who 
are  never  at  a  loss  to  name  the  reason  of  every 
structure,  and  show  the  tender  mercy  of  every 
event ;  who  praise  the  cleverness  of  the  Eter- 
nal economy,  and  patronise  it  as  a  masterpiece 
of  forensic  ingenuity ;  who  carry  themselves 
through  the  solemn  glades  of  Providence  with 
the  springy  steps  and  jaunty  air  of  a  familiar ; 
do  but  drive  me  by  the  very  definiteness  of 
their  assurance  into  an  indefinite  agony  of 
doubt  and  impel  me  to  cry  '  Ask  of  me  less, 
and  I  shall  give  you  all.' ' 


232  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

Dean  Stanley  described  one  great  object  of 
his  life  as  being  to  do  "  something  to  break 
the  collision  between  the  beliefs  and  the 
doubts  of  the  age,  and  to  fix  our  gaze  'on 
the  hills  from  whence  cometh  our  help.' ' 

"  Amid  the  mysteries,"  says  Herbert 
Spencer,  "  which  become  the  more  mysterious 
the  more  they  are  thought  about,  there  will 
remain  the  one  absolute  certainty,  that  man 
is  ever  in  presence  of  an  Infinite  and  Eternal 
Energy,  from  which  all  things  proceed." 

We  must  then  be  content  to  feel,  we  cannot 
define. 

Many  of  the  differences  which  separate  men 
into  sects  are  factions,  rather  than  religions. 
In  defiance  of  St.  Paul's  warning,  they  per- 
sist in  saying,  "  I  am  of  Paul,  and  I  am  of 
Apollos." 

"  The  kingdom  of  God  does  not,"  says 
Jeremy  Taylor,  "  consist  in  words,  but  in 
power,  the  power  of  Godliness.  Though  now 
we  are  fallen  upon  another  method,  we  have 
turned  all  religion  into  faith,  and  our  faith 
is  nothing  but  the  production  of  interest  or 
disputing;  it  is  adhering  to  a  party  and  a 


xiv  FAITH  233 

wrangling  against  all  the  world  beside ;  and 
when  it  is  asked  of  what  religion  he  is  of,  we 
understand  the  meaning  to  be  what  faction 
does  he  follow,  what  are  the  articles  of  his 
sect,  not  what  is  the  manner  of  his  life  :  and 
if  men  be  zealous  for  their  party  and  that 
interest,  then  they  are  precious  men,  though 
otherwise  they  be  covetous  as  the  grave, 
factious  as  Dathan,  schismatical  as  Korah,  or 
proud  as  the  fallen  angels." 

Men  of  science  are  often  attacked  for  want 
of  faith,  though  Thoreau  says  that  "as  a 
matter  of  fact  there  is  more  religion  in 
science,  than  science  in  religion." 

But  the  man  of  science  who  doubts,  does  so 
in  no  scoffing  spirit ;  it  is  an  expression,  not 
of  disdain,  but  of  reverence.  As  Tennyson 
has  well  said  — 

"  Perplext  in  faith,  but  pure  in  deeds, 

At  last  he  beat  his  music  out. 
There  lives  more  faith  in  honest  doubt, 
Believe  me,  than  in  half  the  creeds." 

Let  me  refer,  for  instance,  to  two  repre- 
sentative men.  "When  I  attempt,"  says 
Professor  Tyndall,  "to  give  the  Power  which 


234  THE    USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

I  see  manifested  in  the  universe  an  objective 
form,  personal  or  otherwise,  it  slips  away 
from  me,  declining  all  intellectual  manipula- 
tion. I  dare  not  use  the  pronoun  '  He  '  re- 
garding it ;  I  dare  not  call  it  a  '  Mind ' ;  I 
refuse  to  call  it  even  a  '  cause.'  Its  mystery 
overshadows  me."  Professor  Huxley  is  one 
of  our  ablest  thinkers ;  he  is,  moreover,  an 
Agnostic,  and  no  friend  of  religious  institu- 
tions in  the  ordinary  sense,  but  he  has  told 
us  that  he  could  "conceive  the  existence  of 
an  Established  Church  which  should  be  a 
blessing  to  the  community.  A  Church  in 
which,  week  by  week,  services  should  be  de- 
voted, not  to  the  iteration  of  abstract  propo- 
sitions in  theology,  but  to  the  setting  before 
men's  minds  of  an  ideal  of  true,  just,  and 
pure  living:  a  place  in  which  those  who  are 
weary  of  the  burden  of  daily  cares,  should  find 
a  moment's  rest  in  the  contemplation  of  the 
higher  life  which  is  possible  for  all,  though 
attained  by  so  few  ;  a  place  in  which  the  man 
of  strife  and  of  business  should  have  time  to 
think  how  small,  after  all,  are  the  rewards 
he  covets  compared  with  peace  and  charity. 


xiv  FAITH  235 

Depend  upon  it,  if  such  a  Church  existed,  no 
one  would  seek  to  disestablish  it." 

This  seems  to  me  not  far  removed  from  the 
Church  of  Arnold  and  Maurice,  Kingsley, 
Stanley,  and  Jowett.  The  Church  of  England 
is  gradually  approximating  to  this  ideal,  and 
the  more  it  does  so,  the  stronger  it  will  grow. 

Theologians  necessarily  endeavour  to  ex- 
press themselves  in  language  which  can  be 
understood,  and  we  do  them  an  injustice  in 
expecting  that  we  can  take  them  literally. 
When  poets  speak  of  the  "  sunrise  "we  do 
not  accuse  them  of  ignoring  astronomy ;  nor 
can  any  one  be  justly  accused  of  "  blasphem- 
ing "  Shakespeare  or  Tennyson  if  he  maintains 
that  it  is  the  Earth  and  not  the  Sun  which 
moves.  Even  the  discoveries  of  science  re- 
quire a  language  of  their  own,  and  if  we  can- 
not describe  a  flower  or  a  stone  accurately 
without  the  use  of  newly-coined  phrases,  we 
may  feel  sure  that  it  is  impossible  for  human 
language  to  comprehend  the  Infinite.  Nor 
can  we  wonder  if,  in  accordance  with  the 
general  opinion  of  the  times,  ancient  writers 
in  some  cases  attributed  to  the  agency  of 


236  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

Demons,  results  which  we  now  know  to  be 
due  to  nervous  disease. 

There  can  be  no  merit  in  believing  some- 
thing which  you  can  neither  explain  nor 
understand.  There  can  be  no  merit  in  be- 
lieving a  fact  for  which  we  have  no  sufficient 
evidence  ;  or  in  persuading  ourselves  that  we 
believe  something  which  we  do  not  compre- 
hend. Indeed,  it  is  surely  impossible  to  be- 
lieve anything  for  which  we  are  conscious 
that  there  is  no  good  evidence.  On  the  con- 
trary, our  duty  is  to  believe  that  for  which  we 
have  sufficient  evidence,  and  to  suspend  our 
judgment  when  we  have  not.  Many  people 
seem  to  suppose  that  they  must  either  believe 
a  statement  or  disbelieve  it.  And  yet  in  a 
great  many  cases  we  have  no  sufficient 
grounds  either  for  belief  or  disbelief. 

True  faith  is  no  mere  intellectual  exercise. 
The  faith  which  is  enjoined  on  us  is  a  living 
faith,  and  faith  without  works  is  dead.  Sel- 
den l  compares  faith  and  works  to  light  and 
heat :  "  Though  in  my  intellect  I  may  divide 
them,  just  as  in  the  candle  I  know  there  is 

1  Table  Talk. 


XIV 


FAITH  237 


both  light  and  heat ;  yet  put  out  the  candle, 
and  both  are  gone."  The  references  to  faith 
in  the  magnificent  eleventh  chapter  of  He- 
brews are  to  actions.  By  faith  Abel  offered 
his  sacrifices ;  by  faith  Noah  built  the  Ark ; 
by  faith  Abraham  left  his  home.  They  surely 
all  had,  or  at  any  rate  every  one  will  admit 
that  they  thought  they  had,  sufficient  reason 
for  what  they  believed  and  for  what  they 
did.  They  were  commended  because,  finding 
themselves  face  to  face  with  a  painful  or 
laborious  duty,  they  did  not  flinch,  but  faith- 
fully performed  what  they  believed  to  be 
right.  One  of  our  duties,  however,  and  by 
no  means  the  easiest,  is  to  suspend  our  judg- 
ment, when  the  evidence  is  inconclusive. 
There  are  many  cases  in  which  doubt,  if  not 
a  virtue,  is  certainly  a  duty. 

"  Our  little  systems  have  their  day  ; 

They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be  : 
They  are  but  broken  lights  of  thee, 

And  Thou,  0  Lord,  art  more  than  they." 

The  veil  is  slowly  rising,  but  as  regards 
innumerable  questions  we  must  be  content 
to  remain  in  ignorance. 

1  Tennyson. 


238  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

"  Our  happiness  as  human  beings  must 
hang  on  our  being  content  to  accept  only 
partial  knowledge,  even  in  those  matters 
which  chiefly  concern  us.  .  .  ..  Our  whole 
pleasure  and  power  of  energetic  action  de- 
pend upon  our  being  able  to  live  and  breathe 
in  a  cloud ;  content  to  see  it  opening  here, 
and  closing  there,  delighting  to  catch,  through 
the  thinnest  films  of  it,  glimpses  of  stable 
and  substantial  things ;  but  yet  perceiving  a 
nobleness  even  in  concealment,  rejoicing  that 
the  kindly  veil  is  spread  where  the  untem- 
pered  light  might  have  scorched  us,  or  the 
infinite  clearness  wearied."  * 

For,  as  Professor  Huxley  says,  "  Whoso 
calls  to  mind  what  I  may  venture  to  term 
the  bright  side  of  Christianity — that  ideal  of 
manhood,  with  its  strength  and  its  patience, 
its  justice  and  its  pity  for  human  frailty,  its 
helpfulness  to  the  extremity  of  self-sacrifice, 
its  ethical  purity  and  nobility,  which  apostles 
have  pictured,  in  which  armies  of  martyrs 
have  placed  their  unshakable  faith,  and 
whence  obscure  men  and  women,  like  Cath- 

1  Ruskin. 


XIV 


FAITH  239 


erine  of  Sienna  and  John  Knox,  have  de- 
rived courage  to  rebuke  Popes  and  Kings  — 
is  not  likely  to  underrate  the  importance  of 
the  Christian  faith  as  a  factor  in  human 
history." 

St.  Mark  tells  us  that  one  of  the  scribes 
came  to  Christ  and  asked  Him  which  was  the 
greatest  Commandment.  "  And  Jesus  an- 
swered him,  The  first  of  all  the  command- 
ments is,  Hear,  0  Israel ;  the  Lord  our  God 
is  one  Lord :  and  thou  shalt  love  the  Lord 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy 
soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy 
strength.  This  is  the  first  commandment. 
And  the  second  is  like  unto  it,  namely  this, 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself. 
There  is  none  other  commandment  greater 
than  these.  And  the  scribe  said  unto  Him, 
Well,  Master,  thou  hast  said  the  truth:  for 
for  there  is  one  God ;  and  there  is  none  other 
but  he :  and  to  love  him  with  all  the  heart, 
and  with  all  the  understanding,  and  with  all 
the  soul,  and  with  all  the  strength,  and  to 
love  his  neighbour  as  himself,  is  more  than 

1  Science  and  Christian  Tradition. 


240  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP,  xiv 

whole  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices.  And 
when  Jesus  saw  that  he  answered  discreetly, 
he  said  unto  him,  Thou  art  not  far  from  the 
kingdom  of  God." 


CHAPTER    XV 

HOPE 

I  HAVE  often  heard  surprise  expressed  that 
Hope  should  be  classed  as  a  virtue  with  Faith 
and  Charity.  Faith  could  perhaps  be  under- 
stood, or  misunderstood,  and  Charity  is  obvi- 
ously a  virtue,  but  why  Hope  ? 

It  is,  however,  certainly  wrong  to  despair : 
and  if  despair  is  wrong,  hope  is  right.  En- 
durance and  tenacity  of  purpose  imply  hope ; 
and  endurance  is  a  much  better  test  of  char- 
acter than  any  single  act  of  heroism,  however 
noble.  Many  a  devoted  and  suffering  woman 
is  a  real  martyr. 

Do  not  lay  things  too  much  to  heart.  No 
one  is  ever  really  beaten  unless  he  is  dis- 
couraged. 

"  ?Tis  not  the  least  disparagement 

To  be  defeated  by  th'  event ; 
R  241 


242  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

Nor  to  be  beaten  by  main  force ; 

That  does  not  make  a  man  the  worse ; 

But  to  turn  tail  and  run  away 

And  without  blows  give  up  the  day, 

Or  to  surrender  to  th'  assault, 

That's  no  man's  fortune,  but  his  fault." 1 

With  his  characteristically  humorous  com- 
mon sense,  Sydney  Smith  gave  excellent 
advice  when  he  said  that  if  we  wish  to  do 
anything  in  the  world  worth  doing,  we  "  must 
not  stand  shivering  on  the  bank,  thinking  of 
the  cold  and  the  danger,  but  jump  in  and 
scramble  through  as  well  as  we  can."  It  is 
curious  that  men  are  seldom  afraid  of  real 
dangers :  they  are  much  more  affected  by 
those  which  are  imaginary.  They  are,  for 
instance,  absurdly  afraid  of  being  laughed 
at. 

Never  give  way  to  false  shame.  Peter 
boldly  faced  the  Pharisees  and  the  soldiers, 
but  could  not  stand  the  jeers  of  the  maids 
and  the  servants  in  the  hall  of  the  Chief 
Priest. 

"  Cowards  die  many  times  before  their  deaths  ; 
The  valiant  never  taste  of  death  but  once."  2 

1  Butler.  2  Shakespeare. 


xv  HOPE  243 

Don  Quixote  hanging  by  his  wrist  from  the 
stable  window  imagined  himself  over  a  terri- 
ble abyss,  but  when  Maritornes  cut  him  down, 
found  he  had  only  been  a  few  inches  above 
the  ground. 

The  very  lions  which  frightened  Mistrust 
and  Timorous  in  the  Pilgrim  s  Progress  were 
found  by  Christian  to  be  chained  when  he 
walked  boldly  up  to  them. 

How  many  armies  which  have  been  victori- 
ous in  battle,  have  taken  to  flight  in  a  panic 
during  the  night!  The  very  word  "panic" 
has  come  to  mean  a  terror  without  a  cause. 
And  even  in  bright  daylight  are  not  fears  and 
anxieties  often  equally  without  foundation  ? 

"  There's  many  a  trouble 
Would  break  like  a  bubble, 
And  into  the  waters  of  Lethe  depart, 
Did  not  we  rehearse  it, 
And  tenderly  nurse  it, 
And  give  it  a  permanent  place  in  the  heart. 

"  There's  many  a  sorrow 
Would  vanish  to-morrow, 
Were  we  not  unwilling  to  furnish  the  wings ; 
So  sadly  intruding, 
And  quietly  brooding, 
It  hatches  out  all  sorts  of  horrible  things."  * 

i  G.  Clark. 


244  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

The  discontented  man  should  ask  himself 
with  whom  he  would  change.  He  cannot 
expect  to  take  one  man's  health,  another's 
wealth,  and  the  home  of  a  third.  If  he  is 
dissatisfied  he  must  change  all  in  all,  or  not 
at  all. 

Coleridge  when  in  great  trouble  wrote 
to  Sir  Humphry  Davy  that  "amid  all  these 
changes  and  humiliations  and  fears,  the  sense 
of  the  Eternal  abides  in  me,  and  preserves 
unsubdued  my  cheerful  faith  that  all  I  endure 
is  full  of  blessings." 

Never  then  despair.  Everything  may  be 
retrieved,  except  despair.  "  Woe  to  him  that 
is  faint-hearted,"  said  the  son  of  Sirach. 

"  If  courage  is  gone,  then  all  is  gone  ! 
Twere  better  that  thou  hadst  never  been  born." l 

"  To  bear  is  to  conquer  our  fate."  2 

"  Beware  of  desperate  steps  :  the  darkest  day, 
Live  till  to-morrow,  will  have  passed  away."  3 

Every  one  makes  mistakes.  The  man,  it 
has  been  well  said,  who  never  makes  a  mis- 
take, will  make  nothing.  But  we  need  not 

1  Goethe.  2  Campbell.  3  Cowper. 


XV 


HOPE  245 


fall  into  the  same  error  twice.  Let  your 
mistakes  be  lessons,  and  so  you  may  make 
them  stepping-stones  to  a  better  life. 

Joseph  Hume  used  to  say  that  he  would 
rather  have  a  cheerful  disposition  than  an  es- 
tate of  £10,000  a  year. 

For  action  the  present  is  all-important,  but 
there  is  a  sense  in  which  it  is  wiser  to  live  in 
the  past  and  the  future.  Many  of  the  miseries 
of  life  are  due  to  our  sacrificing  the  future  for 
the  present ;  the  happiness  of  years  that  are 
to  come,  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  moment. 
No  doubt  it  is  true  that  a  bird  in  the  hand  is 
worth  two  in  the  bush ;  but  then  the  chances 
are  that  the  bird  in  the  bush  may  never  be  in 
the  cage,  while  the  future,  on  the  contrary,  is 
sure  to  come,  and  those  men  are  most  happy 
whose  "  pleasure  is  in  memory,  and  their  am- 
bition in  heaven."  * 

We  could  hardly  go  far  wrong  if  we  lived  in 
the  future  ;  for  man  "  hath  but  to  forsake  the 
Transitory  and  Perishable  with  which  the  True 
Life  can  never  associate,  and  thereupon  the 
Eternal,  with  all  its  Blessedness,  will  forth- 
with descend  and  dwell  with  him." 

i  Ruskin. 


246  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

Man  should,  I  was  almost  about  to  say 
above  all  things,  be  manly,  and  have 

"  The  will  to  do,  the  soul  to  dare." J 
For 

"  Our  doubts  are  traitors, 
And  make  us  lose  the  good  we  oft  might  win, 
By  fearing  to  attempt." 2 

Courage  is  not  only  a  virtue,  but  even  part 
of  the  very  essence  of  a  man.  A  man  to  be  a 
man  must  be  brave,  just  as  a  woman  to  be  a 
woman  must  be  gentle ;  though  of  course  men 
should  be  gentle  as  well  as  brave,  and  women 
brave  as  well  as  gentle. 

Recklessness  is  not  courage.  Courage  does 
not  consist  in  despising  danger,  but  in  facing 
it  bravely.  There  is  no  courage  in  running 
unnecessary  risk ;  but  when  danger  comes, 
cowardice  adds  to  it :  to  face  it  boldly  and 
coolly  is  the  true  path  of  safety.  To  run 
away  from  an  enemy  in  battle  is  the  way 
to  get  killed,  especially  for  those  who,  like 
Achilles,  are  vulnerable  only  in  the  heel. 

"  To  make  anything  very  terrible,"  says 
Burke,3  "  obscurity  seems  in  general  to  be 

1  Scott.  2  Shakespeare. 

8  "  Essay  on  the  Sublime  and  Beautiful." 


xv  HOPE  247 

necessary.  When  we  know  the  full  extent 
of  any  danger,  when  we  can  accustom  our 
eyes  to  it,  a  great  deal  of  the  apprehension 
vanishes."  In  the  old  fable,  the  deer  frightened 
by  feathers  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  hunters, 
and  the  troops,  who,  on  the  raising  of  the  dust 
by  a  flock  of  sheep,  took  them  for  the  enemy, 
fell  into  an  ambush. 

Keep  cool  and  courageous. 

"Out  of  the  nettle,  danger,  pluck  the  flower,  safety," 

and,  according  to  the  Eastern  proverb,  "  draw 
the  feet  of  contentment  under  the  skirt  of 
security." 

Do  not  expect  too  much.  "  To  know  how 
to  expect  little,"  said  Goethe,  "  and  enjoy 
much,  is  the  secret  of  success." 

Do  not  expect  too  much,  and  do  not  expect 
it  too  quickly.  "  Everything  comes  to  those 
who  know  how  to  wait."  It  has  been  well 
said  that  the  darkest  shadows  of  life  are  those 
which  a  man  makes  when  he  stands  in  his 
own  light.  Still,  do  what  we  will,  sorrows 
must  come,  and  it  is  for  us  to  bear  them 
bravely. 


248  THE   USE    OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

"Call  up,"  said  Richter,  "in  your  darkest 
moments  the  memory  of  the  brightest." 

"  Know  how  sublime  a  thing  it  is 
To  suffer  and  be  strong." 

We  have,  moreover,  always  the  consolation  of 
knowing  that 

"  Come  what  come  may, 
Time  and  the  hour  runs  through  the  roughest  day." 1 

For,  as  George  Macdonald  says  — 

"  For  things  can  never  go  badly  wrong, 
If  the  heart  be  true  and  the  love  be  strong ; 
For  the  mist,  if  it  comes,  and  the  weeping  rain, 
Will  be  changed  by  the  love  into  sunshine  again." 

"  After  winter  folio  we  th  summer,  after  night, 
the  day  returneth,  and  after  a  great  tempest,  a 
great  calm."  2  However  dark  our  path  may 
seem,  remember  that  Time  will  soothe  the 
greatest  sorrows.  "  Heaviness  may  endure 
for  a  night,  but  joy  cometh  in  the  morning." 

"  Be  still,  sad  heart,  and  cease  repining ; 
Behind  the  clouds  is  the  sun  still  shining ; 
Thy  fate  is  the  common  fate  of  all, 
Into  each  life  some  rain  must  fall, 
Some  days  must  be  dark  and  dreary." 3 

1  Shakespeare.  2  Imitation  of  Christ.  3  Longfellow. 


xv  HOPE  249 

If  any  change  happens,  which  at  first  seems 
like  a  misfortune,  make  sure  at  least  that  it 
is  so.  Appearances  are  often  deceptive ;  we 
do  not  live  in  a  world  in  which  we  can  afford 
to  be  discouraged  by  trifles,  and  we  never  know 
what  we  can  do  till  we  try.  Trouble  and  sor- 
row are  often  friends  in  disguise.  Nelson 
turned  even  his  blind  eye  to  advantage  when 
he  did  not  wish  to  see  the  signal  for  retreat. 
There  are  many,  says  Sir  M.  Grant  Duff  in 
his  charming  life  of  Renan,  "  for  whose  lives 
we  should  not  have  cared,  but  whose  death 
we  envy."  And  in  history,  quite  as  many 
owe  their  immortality  to  the  scaffold  as  to  the 
throne.  If  we  suffer,  it  is  either  for  our  own 
fault  or  for  the  general  good. 

"  Wise  men  never  sit,  and  wail  their  loss, 
But  cheerly  seek  how  to  redress  their  harm."  * 

While,  moreover,  we  may  be  thankful  for 
and  enjoy  to  the  full  the  innumerable  bless- 
ings of  life,  we  must  not  look  upon  sorrows 
and  sufferings  as  unmixed  evils.  No  one  would 
be  the  better  for  constant  and  unvaried  sue- 


250  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

cess.;  even  if  it  were  not  too  great  a  trial,  it 
could  not  but  enervate  and  weaken.  To  over- 
come difficulties,  to  resist  temptation,  to  bear 
sorrows  bravely,  —  raises,  strengthens,  and 
ennobles  the  character. 

"  Face  to  face  with  Eternity,  the  great  thing 
is  to  walk  grandly  towards  it."  l 

We  may  thoroughly  enjoy  the  soft  air  and 
bright  sunshine  of  summer,  but  Nature  owes 
much  of  its  grandeur  and  beauty  to  the  snows 
and  storms  of  winter. 

Kingsley  in  a  noble  ode  does  justice  to  the 
north-east  wind  — 

"  Let  the  luscious  South,  wind 
Breathe  in  lover's  sighs, 
Whilst  the  lazy  gallants 
Bask  in  ladies'  eyes. 
What  does  he  but  soften 
Heart  alike  and  pen  ? 
'Tis  the  hard  gray  weather 
Breeds  hard  English  men. 

But  the  black  North-easter, 
Through  the  snow-storm  hurled, 
Drives  our  English  hearts  of  oak 
Seaward  round  the  world. 

i  Geikie. 


XV 


HOPE  251 


Come  :  and  strong  within  us 
Stir  the  Viking's  blood : 
Bracing  brain  and  sinew : 
Blow,  thou  wind  of  God." 

Troubles  are  a  moral  North-easter.  They 
strengthen  and  brace  us  — 

"  Beyond  the  gauds  and  trappings  of  renown, 
This  is  the  hero's  compliment  and  crown ; 
This  missed,  one  struggle  had  been  wanting  still, 
One  glorious  triumph  of  heroic  will."  1 

"  What  do  you  think,"  says  Epictetus,  "  that 
Hercules  would  have  been  if  there  had  not  been 
such  a  lion,  and  hydra,  and  stag,  and  boar,  and 
certain  unjust  and  bestial  men,  whom  Hercules 
used  to  drive  away  and  clear  out  ?  And  what 
would  he  have  been  doing  if  there  had  been 
nothing  of  the  kind  ?  Is  it  not  plain  that  he 
would  have  wrapped  himself  up  and  slept  ? 
In  the  first  place,  then,  he  would  not  have 
been  a  Hercules,  when  he  was  dreaming  away 
his  life  in  such  luxury  and  ease ;  and  even  if 
he  had  been  one,  what  would  have  been  the 
use  of  him  ?  and  what  the  use  of  his  arms, 
and  of  the  strength  of  the  other  parts  of  his 

1  Henry  Taylor. 


252  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP,  xv 

body?  and  his  endurance  and  noble  spirit,  if 
such  circumstances  and  occasions  had  not 
roused  and  exercised  him  ?  " 

When  Socrates  was  condemned  Apollodorus 
lamented  that  he  should  suffer  so  unjustly. 
"Would  you  then,"  said  the  philosopher, 
"  have  had  me  guilty  ?  " 

This,  says  St.  Peter,  is  praiseworthy,  "  if  a 
man  for  conscience  toward  God  endure  grief, 
suffering  wrongfully.  For  what  glory  is  it,  if, 
when  ye  be  buffeted  for  your  faults,  ye  shall 
take  it  patiently  ?  but  if,  when  ye  do  well, 
and  suffer  for  it,  ye  take  it  patiently,  this  is 
acceptable  with  God." 


CHAPTER  XVI 

CHARITY 

WE  should  not  only  do  to  others  as  we 
should  wish  them  to  do  to  us,  but  think  of 
others  kindly  as  we  should  wish  them  to 
think  of  us.  If  we  make  no  allowances  for 
them,  how  can  we  expect  them  to  do  so  for 
us?  Moreover,  on  the  whole,  we  shall  find 
that  a  charitable  construction  of  others  is 
more  likely  to  be  the  right  one  than  not. 

"Some  persons  think  to  get  through  the 
difficulties  of  life,  as  Hannibal  is  said  to 
have  done  across  the  Alps,  by  pouring  vine- 
gar on  them."  l 

Others  are  ready  to  make  sacrifices,  but 
they  neglect  those  little  acts  of  kindness  and 
affection  which  add  so  much  to  the  brightness 
and  happiness  of  life. 

1  Guesses  at  Truth. 
253 


254  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

Even  if  we  have  reason  to  complain,  the 
offence  is  seldom  so  serious  as  we  suppose, 
and  to  resent  injuries  only  makes  them  worse. 
Revenge  does  us  more  harm  than  the  injury 
itself;  and  no  one  ever  intended  to  hurt 
another,  but  he  did  at  the  same  time  a 
greater  harm  to  himself,  "  as  the  Bee  shall 
perish  if  she  stings  angrily."  1 

The  vulture,  we  are  told,  scents  nothing 
but  carrion,  and  the  Snapping  turtle  is  said 
to  bite  before  it  leaves  the  egg,  and  after  it 
is  dead. 

Some  people  go  through  the  world  looking 
for  faults.  It  is  far  wiser,  however,  to  admire 
than  to  criticise,  nor  is  carping  really  true 
criticism.  Even  if  there  be  a  skeleton  in  the 
cupboard,  it  is  probably  not  the  only  thing 
there.  The  bones  do  not  make  the  man. 
Criticism  may  be  true,  but  is  it  the  whole 
truth  ?  It  is  very  interesting  to  be  behind 
the  scenes,  but  it  is  not  the  best  place  for 
seeing  the  play.  Try  to  look  out  for  the 
good  and  not  the  evil,  both  in  people  and  in 
life,  and  you  will  see  what  you  look  for. 

1  King  Alfred's  trs.  of  Boethius. 


xvi  CHARITY  255 

Always  be  patient.  We  know  that  if  chil- 
dren are  fractious  it  is  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten  because  they  are  suffering ;  and  men  and 
women  are  but  grown-up  children  in  this  re- 
spect, as  in  others.  In  most  cases,  if  we  knew 
all  the  circumstances,  if  we  knew  what  they 
were  feeling,  we  should  be  sorry  for,  and  not 
angry  with,  people  who  are  cross. 

If  we  know  that  any  one  is  ill,  how  con- 
siderate others  become.  Nothing  is  grudged. 
Everything  is  done  that  can  be  thought  of. 
They  are  spared  all  possible  annoyance  or 
irritation.  But  why  then  only  ?  How  much 
better  it  would  be  if  we  were  always  as  kind 
and  considerate. 

We  do  not  know  the  anxious  cares,  the 
weight  of  sorrow,  the  secret  sufferings  of 
others.  If  then  you  think  you  have  reason 
to  complain,  make  allowances.  You  need  not 
be  afraid  of  making  too  many.  Make  the  best 
of  everything  and  everybody. 

"  De  inortuis  nil  nisi  bonum  is  a  good 
maxim,  but  why  confine  it  to  the  dead? 
How  is  it  that  for  one  kind  word,  one  good 
deed  told  of  others,  we  hear  so  many  ill- 


256  THE  USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

natured  stories  or  unfavourable  comments  ? 
How  much  better  would  it  be  if  people 
would  speak  of  the  living  as  they  do  of  the 
dead. 

Do  not  then  condemn  others  hastily,  if  at  all. 

"  Judge  not !     The  workings  of  his  brain 
And  of  his  heart  thou  canst  not  see  ; 
What  looks  to  thy  dim  eyes  a  stain, 

In  God's  pure  light  may  only  be 
A  scar,  brought  from  some  well-won  field, 
Where  thou  wouldst  only  faint  and  yield."  1 

There  may  be,  there  certainly  will  be,  occa- 
sions on  which  it  is  necessary  to  express  dis- 
approval ;  but  as  a  rule,  if  it  is  impossible  to 
say  anything  kind  and  charitable,  it  is  better 
to  say  nothing  at  all.  Sydney  Smith  is  re- 
ported to  have  sent  a  message  to  an  ac- 
quaintance who  had  been  abusing  him  in  his 
absence,  that  he  was  welcome  to  kick  him 
also  wheri  he  was  not  there.  Most  of  us, 
however,  would  rather  be  found  fault  with, 
if  at  all,  to  our  faces,  and  are  especially  sen- 
sitive to  what  is  said  of  us  when  we  are  not 
there  to  defend  ourselves.  People  may  laugh 

i  A.  A.  Procter. 


XVI 


CHARITY  257 


and  seem  amused  at  having  ill-natured  things 
said  about  others,  but  depend  upon  it  they  will 
draw  the  natural  inference  that  their  turn  will 
come  next,  and  will  like  you  none  the  better, 
however  they  may  laugh  with  you  at  the 
moment. 

"  Then  gently  scan  your  brother  man, 
Still  gentler,  sister  woman, 
Though  they  may  gang  a  kennin'  wrang, 
To  step  aside  is  human. 

Then  at  the  balance  let's  be  mute, 
We  never  can  adjust  it ; 
What's  done  we  partly  may  compute, 
But  know  not  what's  resisted." l 

I  must  also  put  in  a  word  also  for  animals. 
Seneca  truly  observes  that  "  what  with  hooks, 
snares,  nets,  dogs  (and  we  must  now  add 
guns)  we  are  at  war  with  all  living  creatures." 
It  is  apparently  a  necessity  of  our  existence 
that  we  should  live  to  some  extent  at  the  ex- 
pense of  other  animals.  Since  then  we  owe 
them  so  much,  we  ought  all  the  more  to 
avoid  inflicting  on  them  any  unnecessary  suf- 
fering. 

1  Burns. 


258  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

"  Never  to  blend  our  pleasure  or  our  pride, 
With  sorrow  of  the  meanest  thing  that  feels."  l 

And  so  "  if  thy  heart  be  right,  then  will 
every  creature  be  to  thee  a  mirror  of  life,  and 
a  book  of  holy  doctrine."  2 

We  do  not  now,  most  of  us,  believe  that 
animals  have  souls,  and  yet  probably  the 
majority  of  manhood  from  Buddha  to  Wes- 
ley and  Kingsley  have  done  so. 

Birds  indeed  have  something  especially 
ethereal.  St.  Francis,  "  perfectly  sure  that 
he  himself  was  a  spiritual  being,  thought  it 
at  least  possible  that  birds  might  be  spiritual 
beings  likewise,  incarnate  like  himself  in 
mortal  flesh ;  and  saw  no  degradation  to  the 
dignity  of  human  nature  in  claiming  kindred 
lovingly,  with  creatures  so  beautiful,  so  won- 
derful, who  (as  he  fancied  in  his  old-fashioned 
way)  praised  God  in  the  forest,  even  as  angels 
did  in  heaven." 3 

But  however  this  may  be,  assuredly  ani- 
mals should  be  treated  with  kindness  and 
consideration ;  it  is  a  crime  to  inflict  on  them 
any  unnecessary  suffering. 

1  Wordsworth.  2  Thomas  h  Kempis.          3  Kingsley. 


xvi  CHARITY  259 

Wordsworth  calls  — 

"  That  best  portion  of  a  good  man's  life, 
His  little,  nameless,  unreinembered  acts 
Of  kindness  and  of  love." 

"  He  prayeth  well,  who  loveth  well 
Both  man  and  bird  and  beast. 

"  He  prayeth  best,  who  loveth  best 
All  things,  both  great  and  small. 
For  the  dear  God  who  loveth  us 
He  made  and  loveth  all." l 

Among  all  his  splendid  passages,  there  is 
none  more  magnificent  than  that  in  which 
Shakespeare  tells  us  that 

"  The  quality  of  mercy  is  not  strain'd, 
It  droppeth  as  the  gentle  rain  from  heaven 
Upon  the  place  beneath :  it  is  twice  bless'd ; 
It  blesseth  him  that  gives  and  him  that  takes  : 
'Tis  mightiest  in  the  mightiest :  it  becomes 
The  throned  monarch  better  than  his  crown ; 
His  sceptre  shows  the  force  of  temporal  power, 
The  attribute  to  awe  and  majesty, 
Wherein  doth  sit  the  dread  and  fear  of  kings ; 
But  mercy  is  above  this  sceptred  sway  ; 
It  is  enthroned  in  the  hearts  of  kings, 
It  is  an  attribute  to  God  himself ; 
And  earthly  power  doth  then  show  likest  God's 
When  mercy  seasons  justice." 2 

1  Coleridge.  -  Shakespeare. 


260  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

Charity  is  too  often  taken  as  synonymous 
with  the  giving  of  alms,  and  no  doubt  it  is 
true,  as  in  the  celebrated  Greek  lines,  that 

"  Strangers  and  poor  men  are  all  sent  from  Zeus, 
And  alms,  however  small,  are  sweet." 

But  yet  alms-giving  is  only  one  form  of 
charity ;  by  no  means  the  chief,  and  one 
which,  unless  judiciously  exercised,  may  do, 
and  often  does,  more  harm  than  good. 

Much  more  important  is  the  feeling  of 
sympathy  and  affection. 

"  Teach  me  to  feel  another's  woe, 

To  hide  the  faults  I  see ; 
That  mercy  I  to  others  show, 
That  mercy  show  to  me." 1 

Forget  injuries,  but  never  forget  a  kindness. 

"  How  sharper  than  a  serpent's  tooth  it  is 
To  have  a  thankless  child."  2 

"  How  many  there  are  who  are  unworthy 
of  the  light  of  day,  and  yet  the  sun  rises."  3 

Those  who  do  not  forgive  others  cannot 
expect  to  be  forgiven  themselves. 

1  Pope.  2  Shakespeare.  3  Seneca. 


xvi  CHARITY  261 

"  Suppose  yourselves  under  the  apprehen- 
sion of  approaching  death ;  that  you  were 
just  going  to  appear,  naked  and  without  dis- 
guise, before  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth,  to 
give  an  account  of  your  behaviour  towards 
your  fellow-creatures :  could  anything  raise 
more  dreadful  apprehensions  of  that  judg- 
ment than  the  reflection  that  you  had  been 
implacable,  and  without  mercy  towards  those 
who  had  offended  you :  without  that  forgiv- 
ing spirit  towards  others,  which,  that  it  may 
now  be  exerted  towards  yourself,  is  your 
only  hope  ?  And  these  natural  apprehen- 
sions are  authorised  by  our  Saviour's  applica- 
tion of  the  parable :  "  So  likewise  shall  My 
heavenly  Father  do  also  unto  you,  if  ye  from 
your  heart  forgive  not  every  one  his  brother 
their  trespasses."  l 

The  divine  precept  to  forgive  injuries  and 
love  our  enemies,  though  not  altogether  ab- 
sent from  other  systems  of  morality,  is  yet 
especially  Christian.  The  Bible  urges  it  over 
and  over  again.  "  For  if  ye  forgive  men  their 
trespasses,  your  heavenly  Father  will  also  for- 

1  Dr.  Butler. 


262  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

give  you :  but  if  ye  forgive  not  men  their  tres- 
passes, neither  will  your  Father  forgive  your 
trespasses."  l 

Nay !  forgiveness  is  not  enough.  We  must 
go  further. 

"  I  say  unto  you,  Love  your  enemies,  bless 
them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to  them  that 
hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  which  despite- 
fully  use  you  and  persecute  you;  that  ye 
may  be  the  children  of  your  Father  which 
is  in  heaven :  for  he  maketh  his  sun  to  rise 
on  the  evil  and  upon  the  good,  and  sendeth 
rain  on  the  just  and  on  the  unjust."  2 

"Charity,"  says  St.  Paul, 

"  Charity  suffereth  long,  and  is  kind ; 

Charity  envieth  not ; 

Charity  vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up, 
Doth  not  behave  itself  unseemly, 
Seeketh  not  her  own, 
Is  not  easily  provoked, 

Thinketh  no  evil ; 

Rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth ; 
Beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things, 
Hopeth  all  things,  endureth  all  things. 

"  Charity  never  faileth  :  but  whether  there 

1  Dr.  Butler.  2  St.  Matthew. 


xvi  CHARITY  263 

be  prophecies,  they  shall  fail ;  whether  there 
be  tongues,  they  shall  cease  ;  whether  there  be 
knowledge,  it  shall  vanish  away.  .  .  .  Now 
abideth  faith,  hope,  charity,  these  three ;  but 
the  greatest  of  these  is  charity." 


CHAPTER   XVII 

CHARACTER 

As  a  mere  question  of  getting  on  in  the 
world  character  and  steadiness  will  do  more 
for  a  man  than  cleverness.  I  would  not 
of  course  base  the  importance  of  character 
mainly  on  any  such  consideration,  still  it  is 
none  the  less  true.  It  is  more  important  to 
do  right  than  to  know  it,  and  whether  we 
wish  to  be  good,  or  to  be  prosperous  and 
happy,  we  should  follow  exactly  the  same 
course.  Golden  deeds  make  golden  days. 

The  worth  of  a  life  is  to  be  measured  by 
its  moral  value.  "  Once  make  up  your  mind 
never  to  stand  waiting  and  hesitating  when 
your  conscience  tells  you  what  you  ought  to 
do,  and  you  have  got  the  key  to  every  bless- 
ing that  a  sinner  can  reasonably  hope  for." l 

i  Keble. 
264 


CHAP,  xvii  CHARACTER  265 

You  will  never  in  the  long  run  increase 
your  happiness  by  neglecting  or  evading  a 
duty.  It  is  as  characteristic  of  the  wise  man 
as  of  the  good  one,  that 

"He  holds  no  parley  with  unmanly  fears ; 
Where  duty  bids,  he  confidently  steers ; 
Faces  a  thousand  dangers  at  her  call, 
And,  trusting  in  his  God,  surmounts  them  all." 1 

What  is  necessary  for  true  success  in  life  ? 
But  "  one  thing  is  needful.  Money  is  not 
needful ;  power  is  not  needful ;  cleverness  is 
not  needful ;  fame  is  not  needful ;  liberty  is 
not  needful ;  even  health  is  not  the  one  thing 
needful;  but  character  alone  —  a  thoroughly 
cultivated  will  —  is  that  which  can  truly  save 
us ;  and,  if  we  are  not  saved  in  this  sense,  we 
must  certainly  be  damned."  2 

Your  character  will  be  what  you  yourself 
choose  to  make  it.  We  cannot  all  be  poets 
or  musicians,  great  artists  or  men  of  science, 
and  "  there  are  many  other  things  of  which 
thou  canst  not  say,  I  am  not  formed  for  them 
by  nature.  Show  those  qualities  then,  which 
are  altogether  in  thy  power ;  sincerity,  grav- 

1  Wordsworth.  -  Blackie. 


THE   USE    OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

ity,  endurance  of  labour,  aversion  to  luxury, 
benevolence,  frankness,  no  love  of  superfluity, 
freedom  from  trifling,  magnanimity.  Dost 
thou  not  see  how  many  qualities  thou  art 
immediately  able  to  exhibit,  in  which  there 
is  no  excuse  of  natural  incapacity  and  unfit- 
ness,  and  yet  thou  still  remainest  volunta- 
rily below  the  mark  ?  or  art  thou  compelled, 
through  being  defectively  furnished  by  nat- 
ure, to  murmur,  and  be  mean,  and  to  flatter, 
and  to  find  fault  with  thy  poor  body  and  to 
try  to  please  men,  and  to  make  great  display, 
and  to  be  restless  in  thy  mind  ?  No,  by  the 
Gods :  but  thou  mightest  have  been  delivered 
from  these  things  long  ago.  Only,  if  in  truth 
thou  canst  be  charged  with  being  rather  slow 
and  dull  of  comprehension,  thou  must  exert 
thyself  about  this  also,  not  neglecting  it,  nor 
yet  taking  pleasure  in  thy  dulness." 

Never  do  anything  of  which  you  will  have 
cause  to  be  ashamed.  There  is  one  good 
opinion  which  is  of  the  greatest  importance 
to  you,  namely,  your  own.  "  An  easy  con- 
science," says  Seneca,  "  is  a  continual  feast." 

1  Marcus  Aurelius. 


xvn  CHARACTER  267 

Franklin,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for 
much,  good  advice,  adopted  a  plan  which  I 
cannot  recommend.  After  a  clear  and  con- 
cise summary  of  the  virtues,  he  says,  "  My 
intention  being  to  acquire  the  habitude  of  all 
these,  I  judged  it  would  be  well  not  to  dis- 
tract my  attention  by  attempting  the  whole  at 
once,  but  to  fix  it  on  one  of  them  at  a  time ; 
and  when  I  should  be  master  of  that,  then  to 
proceed  to  another,  and  so  on,  till  I  should 
have  gone  through  the  thirteen  "  (Temper- 
ance, Silence,  Order,  Resolution,  Frugality, 
Industry,  Sincerity,  Justice,  Moderation, 
Cleanliness,  Tranquillity,  Chastity,  and  Hu- 
mility). It  seems  difficult  to  imagine  that 
he  can  really  have  acted  on  this  theory;  for 
"  if  you  take  home  one  of  Satan's  relations, 
the  whole  family  will  follow." 

How  astonished  we  should  be,  said  Bishop 
Wilson,  "  to  hear  one,  upon  giving  monies  to 
a  poor  body,  bid  him  go  to  the  ale-house  and 
spend  it,  go  and  venture  it  in  gaming,  go 
and  buy  yourself  some  foolish  toy !  Why 
then  should  you  do  that  yourself,  which  you 
own  you  should  be  laughed  at  to  bid  another 
do?" 


THE  USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

Look  up  and  not  down.  "  The  man,"  said 
Lord  Beaconsfield,  "  who  does  not  look  up, 
will  look  down,  and  the  spirit  which  does  not 
dare  to  soar,  is  destined  perhaps  to  grovel." 

"  Oh,  who  shall  lightly  say  that  fame 
Is  nothing  but  an  empty  name ! 
Whilst  in  that  sound  there  is  a  charm 
The  nerve  to  brace,  the  heart  to  warm, 
As,  thinking  of  the  mighty  dead, 
The  young  from  youthful  couch  will  start, 
And  vow,  with  lifted  hands  outspread, 
Like  them  to  act  a  noble  part." l 

No  doubt  having  regard  to  the  realities 
of  existence,  the  ordinary  forms  of  ambition 
seem  quite  beneath  our  notice,  and  indeed 
our  greatest  men,  Shakespeare  and  Milton, 
Newton  and  Darwin,  have  owed  nothing  to 
the  honours  or  titles  which  Governments  can 
give.  One  great  drawback  of  ordinary  am- 
bition is  that  it  can  never  be  satisfied.  As  in 
the  ascent  of  a  mountain,  when  we  reach  one 
summit  we  find  another  before  us.  The 
greatest  conquerors,  Alexander  and  Napo- 
leon for  instance,  were  never  contented.  Vic- 

1  Joanna  Baillie. 


xvii  CHARACTER  269 

tims  of  misplaced  ambition,  they  could  not 
"  rest  and  be  thankful."  "  He  that  is  used 
to  go  forward/'  says  Bacon,  and  "  findeth  a 
stop,  falleth  out  of  his  own  favour,  and  is  not 
the  thing  he  was." 

It  is,  however,  going  too  far  to  say  with 
the  Poet  that 

"  One  crowded  hour  of  glorious  life 
Is  worth  an  age  without  a  name." 

Selfish  ambition  is  like  a  will  o'  the  wisp,  a 
glittering  deception. 

"  ?Tis  a  glorious  cheat, 
It  seeks  the  chamber  of  the  gifted  boy 
And  lifts  his  humble  window,  and  comes  in. 
The  narrow  walls  expand,  and  spread  away 
Into  a  kingly  Palace,  and  the  roof 
Lifts  to  the  sky,  and  unseen  ringers  work 
The  ceilings  with  rich  blazonry,  and  write 
His  name  in  burning  letters  over  all. 


And  what  is  its  reward  ?     At  best  a  name. 
Praise  —  when  the  ear  has  grown  too  dull  to  hear, 
Gold  —  where  the  senses  it  should  please  are  dead, 
Wreaths  —  where  the  hair  they  cover  has  grown  gray, 
Fame  —  when  the  heart  it   should  have  thrilled  is 
numb  j 


270  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

All  things  but  love,  when  love  is  what  we  want ; 
And  close  behind  comes  Death,  and  ere  we  know 
That  even  these  unavailing  gifts  are  ours, 
He  sends  us,  stripped  and  naked,  to  the  grave." 1 

What  can  rank  alone  do  ?  Marie  de 
Medicis,  Queen  of  France,  Kegent  of  France, 
mother  of  the  King  of  France,  the  Queen  of 
Spain,  the  Queen  of  England,  and  the  Duchess 
of  Savoy,  was  deserted  by  the  kings  her  chil- 
dren, who  would  not  even  receive  her  into 
their  dominions,  and  died  at  Cologne  in  mis- 
ery, almost  of  hunger,  after  ten  years  of 
persecution. 

All  crowns  are  more  or  less  crowns  of 
thorns.  The  better  and  more  conscientious 
the  wearer,  the  more  heavily  do  the  respon- 
sibilities of  power  weigh  on  him.  It  is  im- 
possible not  to  feel  anxious  when  an  error  of 
judgment  may  bring  misery  to  thousands. 

No  doubt  with  progress,  however  slow,  life 
is  interesting,  without  it,  almost  unendurable. 
For 

"  There  are  times  when  all  would  fain  aspire, 
And  gladly  use  the  helps  to  raise  them  higher, 
Which  Music,  Poesy,  or  Nature  brings."  2 

IN.  P.  Willis.  2  Trench. 


XVII 


CHARACTER  271 


Man  was  meant  to  grow,  not  to  stand  still. 
In  aspiring,  however,  be  scrupulous  about  the 
means  as  well  as  the  end.  An  apparent  rise, 
if  obtained  by  evil  means,  is  really  a  fall. 
Many  of  us  at  any  rate  cannot  stand  still ; 
we  must  go  forward  or  die. 

How  then  can  we  reconcile  these  two  neces- 
sities of  our  nature  ?  Our  ambition  should 
be  to  rule  ourselves,  the  true  kingdom  for 
each  one  of  us ;  and  true  progress  is  to  know 
more,  and  be  more,  and  be  able  to  do  more. 
In  this  progress  there  need  be  no  stop ;  with 
every  step  it  becomes  safer,  not  more  hazard- 
ous. The  first  and  highest  ambition  a  man 
can  have  is  to  do  his  duty. 

"  No  pomp  poetic  crowned,  no  forms  enchained  him, 
No  friends  applauding  watched,  no  foes  arraigned 

him; 

Death  found  him  there,  without  grandeur  or  beauty, 
Only  an  honest  man,  doing  his  duty."  l 

It  is  said  that  the  word  "  Glory  "  does  not 
appear  once  in  the  Duke  of  Wellington's  de- 
spatches. "  Duty  "  was  the  watchword  of  his 
life. 

1  Mrs.  Craik. 


272  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

Without  excluding  ambition  then,  let  yours 
be  that  of  the  Saint  and  Sage.  For 

"  Vanity  herself  had  better  taught 
A  surer  path  even  to  the  fame  he  sought, 
By  pointing  out  on  History's  fruitless  page 
Ten  thousand  conquerors  for  a  single  sage." 1 

A  hundred  years  hence  what  difference  will 
it  make  whether  you  were  rich  or  poor,  a  peer 
or  a  peasant  ?  but  what  difference  may  it  not 
make  whether  you  did  what  was  right  or 
what  was  wrong  ? 

"  What  we  think,  or  what  we  know,  or 
what  we  believe,  is  in  the  end,"  says  Ruskin, 
"of  little  consequence.  The  only  thing  of 
consequence  is  what  we  do." 

"  But  where  shall  wisdom  be  found  ? 

And  where  is  the  place  of  understanding  ? 
Man  knoweth  not  the  price  thereof ; 

Neither  is  it  found  in  the  land  of  the  living. 
The  depth  saith,  It  is  not  in  me ; 

And  the  sea  saith,  It  is  not  with  me. 
It  cannot  be  gotten  for  gold, 

Neither  shall  silver  be  weighed  for  the  price  thereof. 

"No  mention  shall  be  made  of  coral,  or  of  pearls : 
For  the  price  of  wisdom  is  above  rubies. 

1  Byron. 


xvn  CHARACTER  273 

The  fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom ; 

And  to  depart  from  evil  is  understanding."  l 

Be  honest  and  truthful.  "  The  first  sin  on 
the  earth,"  says  Jean  Paul  Richter  —  "  happily 
the  Devil  was  guilty  of  it,  on  the  tree  of 
knowledge  —  was  a  lie."  Honesty  is  the 
best,  as  well  as  the  only  right,  policy. 

"  A  false  balance  is  abomination  to  the  Lord  : 
But  a  just  weight  is  his  delight." 2 

"  Truth,"  said  Chaucer,  "  is  the  highest 
thing  a  man  can  keep."  Clarendon  observes 
of  Falkland  that  he  was  "  so  severe  an  adorer 
of  truth,  that  he  could  as  easily  have  given 
himself  leave  to  steal,  as  to  dissemble." 

"  To  depart  from  the  truth  affords  a  testi- 
mony that  one  first  despises  God,  and  then 
fears  man."  3 

It  is  well  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself  if  you  are 
in  the  wrong ;  but  never  be  ashamed  to  own  it. 

"There  are  innumerable  qualities  which 
make  the  man,  and  fit  him  for  that  work  in 
life  which  he  is  meant  to  do.  But  there  is 
one  quality  which  is  essential,  without  which 

1  Job.  2  Proverbs.  3  Plutarch. 


274  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

a  man  is  not  a  man,  without  which  no  really 
great  life  was  ever  lived,  without  which  no 
really  great  work  was  ever  achieved  —  that 
is  truth,  truth  in  the  inward  parts.  Look  at 
all  the  really  great  and  good  men.  Why  do 
we  call  them  great  and  good  ?  Because  they 
dare  to  be  true  to  themselves,  they  dare  to 
be  what  they  are."  l 

"  This  above  all,  —  To  thine  own  self  be  true ; 
And  it  must  follow,  as  the  night  the  day, 
Thou  canst  not  then  be  false  to  any  man.'7  2 

Two  things,  said  Wordsworth,  "  contra- 
dictory as  they  may  seem,  must  go  together  ; 
manly  dependence,  and  manly  independence  ; 
manly  reliance,  and  manly  self-reliance." 
Learn  to  obey  and  you  will  know  how  to 
command.  Drill  is  good  discipline  both  of 
mind  and  body,  and  a  bad  soldier  will  never 
make  a  good  general. 

"  If  success  attends  you 
Do  not  give  way  to  pride." 

"Pride  goeth  before  destruction, 
And  an  haughty  spirit  before  a  fall."3 

We  often  associate  passion  with  action  and 

1  Max  Mtiller.  2  Shakespeare.         3  Proverbs. 


xvn  CHARACTER  275 

patience  with  inaction.  But  this  is  a  mistake. 
Patience  requires  strength,  while  passion  is  a 
sign  of  weakness,  and  want  of  self-control. 

If  you  are  placed  in  authority,  be  scrupu- 
lously just  and  courteous.  Sadi  tells  us  that 
an  Oriental  monarch  once  gave  an  order  to 
put  an  innocent  person  to  death.  He  said, 
"  0  king,  spare  thyself.  I  shall  suffer  pain 
but  for  a  moment,  while  the  guilt  will  attach 
to  thee  for  ever." 

Power  brings  with  it  responsibility.  But  in 
any  case  do  not  think  what  you  would  like  to 
do,  but  what  you  ought  to  do.  This  is  the 
only  true  road  to  happiness. 

If  there  is  a  doubt  between  two  duties,  take 
the  nearest.  Some  worthy  people  neglect 
their  Family  for  the  sake  of  the  Heathen ;  but 
Sympathy,  like  Charity,  should  begin  at  home. 

Everything  in  this  world  makes  for  right- 
eousness. Of  this  we  can  easily  convince  our- 
selves. We  talk  of  punishment  for  sin.  Who 
punishes  us  ?  We  punish  ourselves.  The  world 
is  so  arranged  that  goodness  brings  joy,  and 
evil  sorrow.  To  sin  and  not  to  suffer,  would 
involve  an  interference  with  the  laws  of  nature. 


276  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

Forgiveness  of  sin  does  not  mean  that  we 
shall  not  be  punished.  That  is  not  only  an 
impossibility,  but  would  be  a  misfortune.  In 
fact  there  is  no  greater  misfortune  than  pros- 
perity in  evil.  If  you  do  what  is  wrong  the 
memories  of  the  past  will  haunt  you  in  the 
future.  Those  you  have  injured  may  forgive 
you,  but  in  so  doing  they  will  heap  coals  of 
fire  on  your  head,  for  their  generosity  will 
make  your  offence  seem  all  the  blacker. 

Conduct  is  life :  in  the  long  run  happiness 
and  prosperity  depend  upon  it.  External  cir- 
cumstances are  of  comparatively  little  im- 
portance ;  it  does  not  so  much  matter  what 
surrounds  us,  as  what  we  are.  Watch  your- 
self then  day  by  day.  Habit  is  second  nature. 
"  Sow  an  act,  and  you  reap  a  habit ;  sow  a 
habit,  and  you  reap  a  character ;  sow  a  char- 
acter, and  you  reap  a  destiny."  We  all  grow 
a  little  every  day,  either  better  or  worse.  It 
is  well  at  night  to  ask  oneself  which  ? 

"Mankind,"  said  Emerson,  "  divides  itself 
into  two  classes  —  Benefactors  and  Malefac- 
tors." If  you  belong  to  the  latter  you  turn 
friends  into  enemies,  make  memory  a  pain, 


xvn  CHARACTER  277 

life  a  sorrow,  the  world  a  prison,  and  death  a 
terror.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  if  you  can 
put  one  bright  and  good  thought  into  the 
mind,  one  happy  hour  into  the  life  of  any  one, 
you  have  done  the  work  of  a  good  Angel. 

It  would  be  a  great  thing  if  every  one 
would  shut  himself  up  for  an  hour  every  day 
—  for  one  hour  —  even  for  half  an  hour  of 
peace  and  meditation.  It  is  impossible  to  say 
there  is  not  time.  Sir  R.  Peel  used  to  read  a 
chapter  of  the  Bible  every  night  after  he  came 
back  from  the  House  of  Commons,  though  I 
must  admit  that  the  House  did  not  sit  as  long 
in  those  days  as  it  does  now. 

Think  on  what  is  good  and  you  will  not  do 
what  is  evil. 

"On  death  and  judgment,  heaven  and  hell, 
Who  oft  doth  think,  must  needs  die  well." l 

And  great  is  the  reward. 

"  My  son,  forget  not  my  law ; 

But  let  thine  heart  keep  my  commandments  : 
For  length  of  days,  and  long  life, 
And  peace,  shall  they  add  to  thee." 2 

1  Sir  W.  Raleigh.  2  Proverbs. 


278  THE    USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

Do  not  put  it  off.  Do  not  make  youth  an 
excuse.  "  We  shall  all  be  perfectly  virtu- 
ous," said  Marguerite  de  Valois,  "  when  there 
is  no  longer  any  flesh  on  our  bones." 

"  Remember  thy  Creator  in  the  days  of  thy 
youth."  To  die  as  we  should  wish,  we  must 
live  as  we  ought.  To  the  good  man  Death 
has  no  terrors.  Bishop  Thirlwall  during  his 
last  illness  occupied  himself  by  translating 
into  seven  languages :  "  As  Sleep  is  the  brother 
of  Death,  thou  must  be  careful  to  commit  thy- 
self to  the  care  of  him  who  is  to  awaken  thee, 
both  from  the  Death  of  Sleep  and  from  the 
Sleep  of  Death." 

When  Socrates  was  before  his  accusers  he 
did  not  speak,  says  Cicero,  "as  a  man  con- 
demned to  death,  but  as  one  ascending  into 
heaven." 

What  will  you  gain,  said  Seneca,  "if  you 
do  your  duty  bravely  and  generously  ?  You 
will  gain  the  doing  of  it — the  deed  itself  is 
the  gain."  We  ought  to  do  what  is  right,  not 
from  hope  of  the  promises,  or  fear  of  punish- 
ment, but  from  love  of  what  is  good,  because 
"  thy  testimonies  are  the  very  joy  of  my 
heart." 


XVII 


CHARACTER  279 


Fuller,  speaking  of  Sir  Francis  Drake,  says 
he  was  "  chaste  in  his  life,  just  in  his  dealings, 
true  of  his  word,  merciful  to  those  that  were 
under  him,  and  hating  nothing  so  much  as 
idleness ;  in  matters  especially  of  moment,  he 
was  never  wont  to  rely  on  other  men's  care, 
how  trusty  or  skilful  soever  they  might  seem 
to  be,  but  always  contemning  danger  and 
refusing  no  toyl,  he  was  wont  himself  to  be 
one  (who  ever  was  a  second)  at  every  turn, 
where  courage,  skill,  or  industry  was  to  be 
employed." 

We  know  that  we  cannot  be  perfect,  but 
yet  we  should  aim  at  perfection  in  character 
as  in  everything  else.  Moreover,  we  have  all 
implanted  in  us  a  sure  guide,  and  if  we  follow 
Conscience  we  cannot  go  far  wrong.  Every 
one  who  chooses  may  lead  a  noble  life. 

Always  then  place  before  yourself  the  high- 
est possible  ideal. 

"  Unless  above  himself  he  can 
Exalt  himself,  how  poor  a  thing  is  man." l 

Thus,  perhaps,  and  if  at  all  thus  only,  can 
you  train  yourself  so  that,  if  a  man,  it  may  be 

1  Vaughan. 


280  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP,  xvn 

eventually  said  of  you  as  Shakespeare  makes 
Mark  Anthony  say  of  Caesar, 

"  His  life  was  gentle,  and  the  elements 
So  mixed  in  him  that  Nature  might  stand  up 
And  say  to  all  the  world,  This  was  a  man." 1 

And  if  a  woman,  that  you  may  become 

"  A  perfect  woman,  nobly  planned 
To  warn,  to  comfort,  and  command. 
And  yet  a  spirit  still  and  bright 
With  something  of  an  angel  light." 2 

Sir  W.  Scott's  last  words  to  Lockhart  on  his 
deathbed  were:  "Be  virtuous — be  religious 
—  be  a  good  man.  Nothing  else  will  be  any 
comfort  when  you  come  to  lie  here." 

Even  Balaam  wished  "  Let  me  die  the  death 
of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like 
his." 

1  Shakespeare.  2  Wordsworth. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

ON   PEACE    AND    HAPPINESS 

PROSPERITY  and  happiness  do  not  by  any 
means  always  go  together,  and  many  people 
are  miserable  though  they  have,  as  it  would 
seem,  everything  to  make  them  happy.  Nat- 
ure may  give  everything  she  can  to  "her 
darling  the  strongest,"  as  Professor  Huxley 
says,  but  she  cannot  make  him  happy.  He 
must  do  that  for  himself.  A  life  of  earthly 
success  is  full  of  perils  and  anxieties.  If  a 
man  has  not  got  the  elements  of  happiness  in 
himself,  not  all  the  beauty  and  variety,  the 
pleasures  and  interests  of  the  world  can  give 
it  him.  To  one  man,  says  Schopenhauer,  "  the 
world  is  barren,  dull,  and  superficial ;  to  an- 
other rich,  interesting,  and  full  of  meaning." 
Happiness  is  a  thing  to  be  practised,  like  the 
violin.  If  we  take  the  right  means  it  will 

281 


282  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

come,  but  we  must  not  seek  it  too  curiously. 
Our  greatest  joy  goes  back  to  Hades,  "if 
Orpheus  like,  we  turn  to  look  at  her."  l  "  Fly 
pleasures  and  they  will  follow  you."  2 

Do  not  think  too  much  of  yourself;  you 
are  not  the  only  person  in  the  world. 

Do  not  seek  for  amusement,  says  Ruskin, 
"  but  be  always  ready  to  be  amused."  It  is 
a  great  thing  to  make  life  a  succession  of 
pleasures,  even  if  they  are  little  ones. 

The  sense  of  humour,  for  instance,  is  a 
gift  peculiar  to  man.  There  is  some  doubt 
whether  animals  have  reason,  but  they  appar- 
ently have  not  the  gift  of  merriment,  and 
"  The  most  completely  lost  of  all  days,"  said 
Chamfort,  "  is  the  one  in  which  we  have  not 
laughed."  What  a  pleasure  it  is  to  hear  a 
merry  laugh!  How  it  lightens  everything 
up. 

"  Your  merry  heart  goes  all  the  way, 
Your  sad  one  tires  in  a  mile  a'." 8 

"  Good  humour,"  said  one  of  our  Bishops, 
"is  nine-tenths  of  Christianity;"  and  if  you 

i  Dallas.  *  Frajiklin.  3  Burns. 


xvni  ON  PEACE   AND   HAPPINESS  283 

are  put  out,  "  let  not  the  sun  go  down  upon 
your  wrath."  l  It  takes  two  to  make  a  quar- 
rel, do  not  you  be  one  of  them. 

Some  people  are  always  grumbling ;  if  they 
had  been  born  in  the  Garden  of  Eden,  they 
would  have  found  much  to  complain  of. 
Others  are  happy  anywhere ;  they  see  beau- 
ties and  blessings  all  around  them. 

Cheerfulness  is  a  great  moral  tonic.  As 
sunshine  brings  out  the  flowers  and  ripens 
the  fruit,  so  does  cheerfulness  —  the  feeling 
of  freedom  and  life  —  develop  in  us  all  the 
seeds  of  good,  —  all  that  is  best  in  us. 

Cheerfulness  is  a  duty  we  owe  to  others. 
There  is  an  old  tradition  that  a  cup  of  gold 
is  to  be  found  wherever  a  rainbow  touches 
the  earth,  and  there  are  some  people  whose 
smile,  the  sound  of  whose  voice,  whose  very 
presence,  seems  like  a  ray  of  sunshine,  to 
turn  everything  they  touch  into  gold.  Men 
never  break  down  as  long  as  they  can  keep 
cheerful.  "  A  merry  heart  is  a  continual 
feast  to  others  besides  itself."  2  The  shadow 
of  Florence  Nightingale  cured  more  than  her 

1  Ep.  to  the  Ephesians.  2  C.  Buxton. 


284  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

medicines;  and  if  we  share  the  burdens  of 
others,  we  lighten  our  own. 

It  seems  to  be  supposed  by  some  that  cheer- 
fulness implies  thoughtlessness ;  there  is,  how- 
ever, no  necessary  connection  between  them. 
The  lightest  spirits,  says  Arnold,  "  which  are 
indeed  one  of  the  greatest  of  earthly  bless- 
ings, often  play  round  the  most  earnest 
thought  and  the  tenderest  affection,  and  with 
far  more  grace  than  when  they  are  united 
with  the  shallowness  and  hardness  of  him 
who  is,  in  the  sight  of  God,  a  fool."  1 

There  are  many  whose  very  birth  is  a  sen- 
tence of  hard  labour  for  life.  But  that  does 
not  apply  to  the  poor  only.  The  rich  now 
work  quite  as  hard,  or  even  harder.  More- 
over, how  many  there  are  whose  very  money 
makes  them  miserable,  —  in  whose  life  there 
is  no  rest,  no  calm,  no  peace  !  We  cannot  in 
this  world  avoid  sufferings,  but  if  we  choose 
we  may  rise  above  them.  To  do  so  we  must 
hang  the  chamber-walls  of  our  memory  with 
beautiful  pictures  and  happy  recollections. 

All   wish,  but   few    know   how,   to   enjoy 

1  Arnold,  Christian  Life. 


xvin  ON   PEACE   AND   HAPPINESS  285 

themselves.  They  do  not  realise  the  dignity 
and  delight  of  life. 

Do  not  magnify  small  troubles  into  great 
trials.  "  What  trouble  is  there  in  this  life/' 
says  Cicero,  "that  can  appear  great  to  him 
who  has  acquainted  himself  with  eternity  and 
the  extent  of  the  universe  ?  For  what  is  there 
in  human  knowledge,  or  the  short  span  of 
this  life,  that  can  appear  great  to  a  wise 
man  ?  whose  mind  is  always  so  upon  its 
guard  that  nothing  can  befall  him  which  is 
unexpected." 

We  often  fancy  we  are  mortally  wounded 
when  we  are  but  scratched.  A  surgeon,  says 
Fuller,  "  sent  for  to  cure  a  slight  wound,  sent 
off  in  a  great  hurry  for  a  plaster.  'Why/ 
said  the  gentleman,  '  is  the  hurt  then  so  dan- 
gerous ? '  '  No/  said  the  surgeon,  6  but  if  the 
messenger  returns  not  in  post-haste  it  will 
cure  itself.' " 1  Time  cures  sorrow  as  well  as 
wounds. 

"A  cultivated  mind,  I  do  not  mean  that 
of  a  philosopher,  but  any  mind  to  which  the 
fountains  of  knowledge  have  been  opened, 

1  Holy  and  Profane  State. 


286  THE   USE    OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

and  which  has  been  taught  in  any  tolerable 
degree  to  exercise  its  faculties,  will  find 
sources  of  inexhaustible  interest  in  all  that 
surrounds  it ;  in  the  objects  of  Nature,  the 
achievements  of  Art,  the  imagination  of 
Poetry,  the  incidents  of  History,  the  ways 
of  Mankind,  past  and  present,  and  their 
prospects  in  the  future.  It  is  possible,  in- 
deed, to  become  indifferent  to  all  this,  and 
that  too,  without  having  exhausted  a  thou- 
sandth part  of  it ;  but  only  when  one  has  had 
from  the  beginning  no  moral  or  human  inter- 
est in  these  things,  and  has  sought  in  them 
only  the  gratification  of  curiosity."1 

We  live  in  a  world  of  flowers  and  trees  and 
grass,  rivers  and  lakes  and  seas,  mountains 
and  sunshine.  Nature  is  bright  to  the  bright, 
comforting  to  those  who  will  accept  com- 
fort. 

"  Still  was  the  sunny  morn  and  fair, 
A  scented  haze  was  in  the  air ; 
So  soft  it  was,  it  seemed  as  spring 
Had  come  once  more  her  arms  to  fling 
About  the  dying  year,  and  kiss 
The  lost  world  into  dreams  of  bliss."  2 

i  John  Stuart  Mill.  2  W.  Morris. 


xvni  ON   PEACE   AND  HAPPINESS  287 

But  to  appreciate  the  beautiful,  we  must 
have  the  sense  of  beauty.  We  hear  much  of 
the  intelligence  of  the  Dog  or  the  Elephant, 
but  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
most  beautiful  view  in  the  world  would  give 
them  any  pleasure. 

We  sometimes  hear  people  complain  of  being 
dull,  —  that  they  have  nothing  to  do  ;  but  in 
that  case  the  dulness  is  in  themselves.  "  If  a 
man  of  education,  who  has  health,  eyes,  hands, 
and  leisure,  wants  an  object,  it  is  only  because 
God  Almighty  has  bestowed  all  those  blessings 
upon  a  man  who  does  not  deserve  them."  l 

Neither  wealth  nor  rank  will  ensure  happi- 
ness. Without  love  and  charity  and  peace  of 
mind,  you  may  be  rich  and  great  and  power- 
ful, but  you  cannot  be  happy. 

There  is  a  Persian  story  that  the  Great  King 
being  out  of  spirits  consulted  his  astrologers, 
and  was  told  that  happiness  could  be  found 
by  wearing  the  shirt  of  a  perfectly  happy  man. 
The  Court  and  all  the  prosperous  classes  in 
the  world  were  searched  in  vain.  No  such 
man  could  be  discovered.  At  last  a  labourer 

1  Southey. 


288  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  OHAP. 

coming  from  his  work  was  found  to  fulfil  the 
condition ;  he  was  absolutely  happy.  But, 
alas !  the  remedy  was  as  far  off  as  ever.  The 
man  wore  no  shirt. 

I  have  already  shown  that,  as  the  wisest  of 
men  have  been  agreed,  happiness  cannot  be 
bought  with  money,  neither  can  it  be  grasped 
by  power.  The  crowns  of  kings  are  lined  with 
thorns.  The  greater  part  of  mankind,  said 
Hiero  to  Simonides,  "  are  deluded  by  the  splen- 
dour of  royalty ;  I  am  not  at  all  surprised,  for 
the  multitude  appear  to  me  to  judge  of  people 
as  happy  or  miserable  principally  from  what 
they  see.  And  royalty  exhibits  to  the  world 
conspicuously,  and  unfolded  fully  to  the  view, 
those  objects  which  are  esteemed  of  the  highest 
value ;  while  it  keeps  the  troubles  of  kings 
concealed  in  the  inmost  recesses  of  the  soul, 
where  both  the  happiness  and  the  misery  of 
mankind  reside.  For  my  own  part,  I  know 
from  experience  extremely  well,  and  I  assure 
you,  Simonides,  that  kings  have  the  smallest 
share  of  the  greatest  enjoyments,  and  the 
largest  share  of  the  greatest  of  evils." 

1  Xenophon. 


xvin  ON  PEACE   AND   HAPPINESS  289 

If  you  are  unhappy,  many  will  find  consola- 
tion in  Massillon's  suggestion,  "  D'ou  vient 
cela  ?  0  Homme  !  ne  serait  ce  point  parce  que 
vous  etes  ici-bas  deplace ;  que  vous  etes  fait 
pour  le  ciel ;  que  la  terre  n'est  pas  votre  patrie, 
et  que  tout  ce  qui  n'est  pour  Dieu  n'est  rien 
pour  vous." 

"  But  to  tell  of  the  varying  lights  of  pleas- 
ure, and  all  the  winning  ways  of  goodness,  we 
are  wholly  at  a  loss  ;  and  the  most  we  can  say 
of  the  greatest  goodness  is,  that  there  is  an 
unknown  indescribable  charm  about  it ;  the 
most  we  can  say  of  the  highest  bliss,  that  it 
is  unutterable."  1 

If  we  look  aright,  we  may  all  say  with 
Dante  — 

"  And  what  I  saw  was  equal  ecstasy ; 
One  universal  smile  it  seemed  of  all  things ; 
Joy  past  compare;  gladness  unutterable; 
Imperishable  life  of  peace  and  love ; 
Exhaustless  riches,  and  unmeasured  bliss." 

Everything  in  Nature  is  regulated  by  wise 
and  beneficent  law,  everything  is  linked  to- 
gether and  works  for  good.  If  we  suffer,  it  is 

1  Bacon. 


290  THE   USE    OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

either  our  own  fault  or  for  the  general  welfare. 
There  is  no  duty,  said  Seneca,  "the  fulfil- 
ment of  which  will  not  make  you  happier, 
nor  any  temptation  for  which  there  is  no 
remedy." 

According  to  Cicero,  Epicurus  laid  it  down 
that  there  were  "  three  kinds  of  desires ;  the 
first,  such  as  were  natural  and  necessary  ;  the 
second,  such  as  were  natural  but  not  necessary  ; 
the  third,  such  as  were  neither  natural  nor 
necessary.  And  these  are  all  such  that  those 
which  are  necessary  are  satisfied  without  much 
trouble  or  expense  ;  even  those  which  are  natu- 
ral, and  not  necessary,  do  not  require  a  great 
deal,  because  nature  itself  makes  the  riches, 
which  are  sufficient  to  content  it,  easy  of  acqui- 
sition and  of  limited  quantity  :  but  as  for  vain 
desires,  it  is  impossible  to  find  any  limit  to,  or 
any  moderation  in  them." 

Thoroughly  to  enjoy  life,  however,  we  must 
be  prepared  to  deny  ourselves,  to  forego  many 
tempting  pleasures. 

We  may  in  many  ways  gain  delight  by  self- 
denial.  The  senses,  full  of  true  delight  as 
they  are,  will,  if  we  yield  to  them,  wreck  us, 


xvni  ON   PEACE   AND   HAPPINESS  291 

like  the  Sirens  of  old,  on  the  rocks  and  whirl- 
pools of  life. 

"  How  happy  is  he  born  and  taught 
That  serveth  not  another's  will : 
Whose  armour  is  his  honest  thought, 
And  simple  truth  his  utmost  skill."  l 

It  is  one  of  the  misfortunes  of  our  age  that 
we  have  so  little  leisure.  We  live  in  a  per- 
petual Whirl.  How  many  women,  and  for 
that  matter  men  too?  have  felt  with  Portia, 
"  My  little  body  is  aweary  of  this  great 
world  "  ! 

Good  work,  however,  cannot  be  done  in  a 
hurry  ;  thought  requires  time  and  quiet. 

"I  know,"  says  Kingsley,  "that  what  we 
all  want  is  inward  rest ;  rest  of  heart  and 
brain  ;  the  calm,  strong,  self-contained,  self- 
denying  character ;  which  needs  no  stimu- 
lants, for  it  has  no  fits  of  depression  ;  which 
needs  no  narcotics,  for  it  has  no  fits  of  excite- 
ment ;  which  needs  no  ascetic  restraints,  for 
it  is  strong  enough  to  use  God's  gifts  with- 
out abusing  them ;  the  character,  in  a  word, 
which  is  truly  temperate,  not  in  drink  or  food 

1  Wotton. 


292  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

merely,  but  in  all  desires,  thoughts,  and 
actions  :  freed  from  the  wild  lusts  and  ambi- 
tions to  which  that  old  Adam  yielded,  and 
seeking  for  light  and  life  by  means  forbid- 
den, found  thereby  disease  and  death.  Yes,  I 
know  that ;  and  know  too  that  that  rest  is 
found  only  where  you  have  already  found  it." 

"As  Zeus  has  ordained,"  says  Epictetus, 
"so  act;  if  you  do  not,  you  will  suffer  the 
penalty,  you  will  be  punished.  And  what  is 
the  punishment  ?  The  not  having  done  your 
duty ;  you  will  lose  the  character  of  modesty, 
fidelity,  propriety.  Can  there  be  greater  pen- 
alties than  these  ?  " 

"  We  complain,"  says  Ruskin,  "  of  the 
want  of  many  things  ;  we  want  votes,  we 
want  liberty,  we  want  amusements,  we  want 
money.  Which  of  us  feels  or  knows  that  he 
wants  peace  ?  There  are  two  ways  of  getting 
it,  if  you  do  want  it.  The  first  is  wholly  in 
your  own  power ;  to  make  yourselves  nests  of 
pleasant  thoughts.  .  .  .  None  of  us  yet  know, 
for  none  of  us  have  yet  been  taught  in  early 
youth  what  fairy  palaces  we  may  build  of 
beautiful  thought  —  proof  against  all  adver- 


xvin  ON   PEACE  AND    HAPPINESS  293 

sity.  Bright  fancies,  satisfied  memories,  noble 
histories,  faithful  sayings,  treasure-houses  of 
precious  and  restful  thoughts ;  which  care 
cannot  disturb,  nor  pain  make  gloomy,  nor 
poverty  take  away  from  us,  —  houses  built 
without  hands,  for  our  souls  to  live  in." 

The  last  watchword  given  by  the  good  and 
great  Emperor  Antoninus,  when  dying,  to  the 
officer  of  the  watch,  was  "  ^Equanimitas." 
Nothing  ever  broke  the  serenity  of  Christ's 
life. 

"  Forego  desire,"  says  St.  Thomas  aKempis, 
"  and  thou  shalt  find  peace."  We  are  almost 
as  much  vexed  in  life  by  little  things,  as 
grieved  by  great  ones. 

"  Of  all  bad  things  by  which  Mankind  are  cursed, 
Their  own  bad  temper  surely  is  the  worst."  1 

Try  then  so  to  manage  yourself  that  you 
may  be  able  to  say  with  Keble  — 

"  0  Lord  my  God,  do  thou  Thy  holy  will  — 

I  will  lie  still ; 
I  will  not  stir,  lest  I  forsake  Thine  arm 

And  break  the  charm 
Which  .lulls  me,  clinging  to  my  Father's  breast, 

In  perfect  rest." 

1  Cumberland. 


294  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

We  must  not  look  outside  for  our  happi- 
ness, but  in  ourselves,  in  our  own  minds. 
"  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  you."  If 
we  cannot  be  happy  here,  why  should  we  ex- 
pect to  be  so  hereafter  ?  Will  Providence  watch 
over  us  then  more  than  now  ?  If  we  do  not 
make  for  ourselves  peace  on  earth,  how  can 
we  expect  to  find  it  in  heaven  ?  What  de- 
prives us  of  it  ?  Pride  and  Avarice,  Selfish- 
ness and  Ambition.  But  for  these  and  their 
like,  we  might  be  happy  here,  and  with  them 
we  can  be  happy  nowhere.  If  we  are  anxious 
here  lest  we  should  lose  what  we  value,  how 
much  more  keenly  anxious  should  we  be  in 
heaven!  If  we  cannot  live  in  peace  with 
others  here,  what  hope  have  we  of  doing  so 
elsewhere  ?  If  we  base  our  peace  and  happi- 
ness on  outward  things,  and  look  exclusively 
to  another  world,  should  we  not  in  a  second 
life  look  forward  to  a  third,  and  so  on  for  ever  ? 
No  doubt  as  Happiness  may  be  thrice  blessed, 
in  Anticipation,  in  Fruition,  and  in  Memory, 
one  pure  and  great  source  of  happiness  may 
be  in  looking  forward  :  in  hoping  "to  meet 
again  those  whom  we  have  loved  and  lost,  to 
see  clearly  much  that  is  now  hidden  from  us. 


xvni  ON   PEACE   AND   HAPPINESS  295 

Against  this  source  of  comfort  and  of  joy, 
I  have  nothing  to  say,  but  we  must  not 
undervalue,  or  be  ungrateful  for,  present 
blessings. 

So  only  can  you  enjoy  the  calm  of  Nature — 

"  The  silence  that  is  in  the  starry  sky, 
The  sleep  that  is  among  the  lonely  hills."  1 

Then  will  angels  come  to  you  in  your  own 
homes,  as  they  did  to  Abraham  of  old,  on  the 
plains  of  Mamre,  long  ago. 

It  may  even  be  possible  that  "there  are 
many  new  joys  unknown  to  man,  and  which 
he  will  find  along  the  splendid  path  of  civ- 
ilisation." 2 

"  For  then  the  Soul  and  Body  make  a  per- 
fect Man,  when  the  soul  commands  wisely, 
or  rules  lovingly,  and  cares  profitably,  and 
provides  plentifully,  and  conducts  charitably 
that  Body  which  is  its  partner  and  yet  the 
inferior.  But  if  the  Body  shall  give  Laws, 
and  by  the  violence  of  the  appetite,  first  abuse 
the  Understanding,  and  then  possess  the  supe- 
rior portion  of  the  Will  and  Choice,  the  Body 
and  the  Soul  are  not  apt  company,  and  the 

1  Wordsworth.  2  Mantezza  in  Ideals  of  Life. 


296  THE  USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP,  xvm 

man  is  a  fool  and  miserable.  If  the  Soul 
rules  not,  it  cannot  be  a  companion;  either 
it  must  govern,  or  be  a  Slave."  l 

It  is  our  own  fault  if  we  do  not  enjoy  life. 
"  All  men,"  says  Ruskin,  "  may  enjoy,  though 
few  can  achieve."  To  keep  the  mind  peace- 
ful and  happy  you  must  fill  it  with  wise  and 
noble  thoughts.  The  Divine,  says  Plato  in 
Phcedrus,  "  is  beauty,  wisdom,  goodness,  and 
the  like;  by  these  the  wing  of  the  Soul  is 
nourished,  and  grows  apace,  but  if  fed  on 
evil,  it  wastes  and  withers  away." 

Make  then  a  wise  choice,  and 

"  So  take  Joy  home, 

And  make  a  place  in  thy  great  heart  for  her, 
And  give  her  time  to  grow,  and  cherish  her, 
Then  will  she  come  and  oft  will  sing  to  thee, 
When  thou  art  working  in  the  furrows ;  ay, 
Or  weeding  in  the  sacred  hours  of  dawn. 
It  is  a  comely  fashion  to  be  glad  — 
Joy  is  the  grace  we  say  to  God." 2 

"  The  best  man,"  said  Socrates,  "is  he  who 
most  tries  to  perfect  himself,  and  the  happiest 
man  is  he  who  most  feels  that  he  is  perfecting 
himself." 

1  Jeremy  Taylor.  2  Jean  Ingelow. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

RELIGION 

IF  the  Religion  of  Theology  is  still  a  mys- 
tery even  to  the  most  learned,  the  Religion  of 
Duty  is  plain  even  to  a  child. 

"  The  lines  of  Duty,"  says  Jeremy  Taylor, 
"  are  not  like  the  oracles  of  Apollo,  double  in 
their  sense,  intricate  in  their  expression,  secret 
in  their  meaning,  deceitful  in  their  measures, 
and  otherwise  in  the  event  than  they  could 
he  in  their  expectation.  But  the  word  of 
God,  in  the  lines  of  duty,  is  open  as  the 
face  of  heaven,  bright  as  the  moon,  healthful 
as  the  sun's  influence  ;  and  this  is  certainly 
true,  that  when  a  thing  becomes  obscure, 
though  it  may  oblige  us  to  a  prudent  search, 
yet  it  binds  us  not  under  a  guilt,  but  only  so 
far  as  it  is  or  may  be  plainly  understood." 

"What  Locke  says  of  children,  will  apply 

297 


298  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

indeed  to  most  grown-up  people  :  "  Instil  into 
them  a  Love  and  Reverence  of  this  Supreme 
Being.  This  is  enough  to  begin  with,  with- 
out going  to  explain  this  matter  any  further ; 
for  fear  lest  by  talking  too  early  to  him  of 
Spirits,  and  being  unseasonably  forward  to 
make  him  understand  the  incomprehensible 
Nature  of  that  Infinite  Being,  his  Head  be 
either  filled  with  false,  or  perplexed  with  un- 
intelligible Notions  of  Him.  Let  him  only  be 
told  upon  Occasion,  that  God  made  and  gov- 
erns all  things,  hears  and  sees  everything, 
and  does  all  manner  of  Good  to  those  that 
love  and  obey  Him ;  you  will  find  that,  being 
told  of  such  a  God,  other  Thoughts  will  be 
apt  to  rise  up  fast  enough  in  his  Mind  about 
Him,  which  as  you  observe  them  to  have  any 
Mistakes,  you  must  set  right.  And  I  think 
it  would  be  better  if  Men  generally  rested 
in  such  an  Idea  of  God,  without  being  too 
curious  in  their  Notions  about  a  being  which 
all  must  acknowledge  incomprehensible  — 
whereby  many,  who  have  not  Strength  and 
Clearness  of  Thought  to  distinguish  between 
what  they  can,  and  what  they  cannot  know, 


xix  RELIGION  299 

run  themselves  in  Superstition  or  Atheism, 
making  God  like  themselves,  or  (because 
they  cannot  comprehend  anything  else)  none 
at  all." 

Lowell  used  to  quote  with  especial  admira- 
tion the  saying  of  Johnson,  that  "  Whatever 
withdraws  us  from  the  power  of  our  senses, 
whatever  makes  the  past,  the  distant,  or  the 
future  predominate  over  the  present,  advances 
us  in  the  dignity  of  thinking  beings."  Relig- 
ion is  in  one  sense  a  matter  for  the  body  as 
well  as  for  the  soul.  The  body  as  well  as  the 
mind  should  be  treated  with  all  honour. 

Theology  and  Dogma  are  the  science,  but 
not  the  essence,  of  religion.  Religion  in  daily 
life  is  a  rule  of  conduct,  a  safeguard  in  pros- 
perity, a  comfort  in  adversity,  a  support  in 
anxiety,  a  refuge  in  danger,  a  consolation  in 
sorrow,  a  haven  of  peace. 

"  Religion,"  Fichte  truly  says,  "  is  not  a 
business  by  and  for  itself,  which  a  man  may 
practise  apart  from  his  other  occupations, 
perhaps  on  certain  fixed  days  and  hours ;  but 
it  is  the  inmost  spirit,  that  penetrates,  in- 
spires, and  pervades  all  our  Thought  and 


300  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

Action,  which  in  other  respects  pursue  their 
appointed  course  without  change  or  inter- 
ruption." 

The  Bible  does  not  bewilder  us  with  ab- 
struse definitions,  but  rather  turns  our 
thoughts  from  such  speculations. 

"For  this  commandment,"  said  Moses, 
u  which  I  command  thee  this  day,  it  is  not 
hidden  from  thee,  neither  is  it  far  off :  it  is 
not  in  heaven,  that  thou  shouldest  say,  Who 
shall  go  up  for  us  to  heaven,  and  bring  it 
unto  us,  that  we  may  hear  it,  and  do  it? 
Neither  is  it  beyond  the  sea,  that  thou 
shouldest  say,  Who  shall  go  over  the  sea  for 
us,  and  bring  it  unto  us,  that  we  may  hear 
it,  and  do  it  ?  But  the  word  is  very  nigh 
unto  thee,  in  thy  mouth,  and  in  thy  heart, 
that  thou  mayest  do  it."  * 

"  Pure  religion,"  says  St.  James,  "  and  un- 
defiled  before  God  and  the  Father  is  this,  To 
visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  afflic- 
tion, and  to  keep  himself  unspotted  from  the 
world." 

We  may  not  be  able   to  tell  whence  we 

1  Deuteronomy. 


xix  RELIGION  301 

came  or  whither  we  go,  we  may  not  be  sure 
what  to  think  or  believe,  but  in  our  hearts 
we  almost  always  know  well  enough  what  we 
ought  to  do.  The  duty  to  our  Neighbour  is 
part  of  our  duty  to  God.  The  mediaeval 
brigand,  who  described  himself  as  "  the  friend 
of  God  and  the  enemy  of  mankind,"  did  not 
more  entirely  mistake  the  true  spirit  of 
Christianity  than  many  who  have  less  excuse. 
The  love  of  God  is  best  shown  by  the  love  of 
man. 

If  we  are  sometimes  disposed  to  complain 
of  others,  we  should  remember  that  "  if  thou 
canst  not  make  thyself  such  an  one  as  thou 
wouldest,  how  canst  thou  expect  to  have 
another  in  all  respects  to  thy  liking?"1 

And  even  if  we  have  just  cause  of  com- 
plaint, we  are  to  forgive,  as  we  hope  our- 
selves to  be  forgiven ;  not  "  until  seven 
times,"  as  Peter  suggested,  but  "  until 
seventy  times  seven."  2 

On  many  minds  the  fear  of  pain  acts  more 
energetically  than  the  hope  of  happiness. 
There  is  a  quaint  old  epitaph  in  Faversham 
church  which  runs  as  follows  :  — 

1  Thomas  a  Kempis.  2  St.  Matthew. 


302  THE  USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

"Whosohimbethoft 
Inwardly  and  oft 
How  hard  it  were  to  flit 
From  Bed  unto  the  Pit ; 
From  Pit  unto  pain 
That  ne'er  shall  cease  again ; 
He  would  not  do  one  sin, 
All  the  world  to  win." 

We  must  neither  neglect  the  warnings  nor 
despise  the  promises.  u  Yet  a  little  while  is 
the  light  with  you.  Walk  while  ye  have  the 
light,  lest  darkness  come  upon  you :  for  he 
that  walketh  in  darkness  knoweth  not  whither 
he  goeth." l 

"Therefore  every  one  that  heareth  these 
sayings  of  mine,  and  doeth  them  not,  shall  be 
likened  unto  a  foolish  man,  which  built  his 
house  upon  the  sand :  and  the  rain  descended, 
and  the  floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew,  and 
beat  upon  that  house ;  and  it  fell :  and  great 
was  the  fall  of  it."  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
"  Whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of  mine, 
and  doeth  them,  I  will  liken  unto  a  wise  man, 
which  built  his  house  upon  a  rock :  and  the 
rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came,  and  the 

1  St.  John. 


XIX 


RELIGION  303 


winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house; 
and  it  fell  not :  for  it  was  founded  upon  a 
rock."  1 

And  above  all,  woe  to  the  man  who  mis- 
leads others,  and  especially  the  young. 

"It  is  impossible  but  that  offences  will 
come :  but  woe  unto  him  through  whom  the 
offence  cometh !  It  were  better  for  him  that 
a  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and 
he  cast  into  the  sea,  than  that  he  should 
offend  one  of  these  little  ones."  2 

"For  what  is  a  man  profited,  if  he  shall 
gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul  ? 
or  what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his 
soul?"3 

But  yet,  however  much  we  have  sinned, 
passage  after  passage,  promise  after  promise, 
forbid  any  one  to  despair. 

Christianity  is  a  religion  of  Hope,  rather 
than  of  Fear.  We  may  indeed  wisely  com- 
bine both  in  our  thoughts,  as  Raleigh  sug- 
gests — 

u  Of  death  and  judgment,  heaven  and  hell, 
Who  oft  doth  think,  must  needs  do  well." 

1  St.  Matthew.  2  St.  Luke.  3  St.  Matthew. 


304  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

But  men  can  be  more  easily  led  than  driven ; 
example  is  better  than  precept.  And  many 
who  would  scorn  all  the  terrors  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, will  feel  the  truth  of  Drummond's  remark 
that  "  Ten  minutes  spent  in  Christ's  society 
every  day,  ay,  two  minutes,  if  it  be  face  to 
face,  and  heart  to  heart,  will  make  the  whole 
life  different." 

Think  on  what  is  good,  and  you  will  not  do 
what  is  bad.  "  Whatsoever  things  are  true, 
whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever 
things  are  just,  whatsoever  things  are  pure, 
whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever 
things  are  of  good  report ;  if  there  be  any 
virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on 
these  things." 1 

"Do  not,"  said  Seneca,  "ask  anything  of 
God,  which  you  would  not  wish  man  to  know ; 
nor  anything  of  man,  which  you  would  not 
wish  God  to  know."  But  when  we  consider 
what  ephemeral  and  infinitesimal  beings  we 
are  in  the  infinities  of  time  and  space,  we  may 
well  ask  with  Spencer  — 

"  And  is  there  care  in  Heaven  ?  and  is  there  Love  ? 
In  Heavenly  Spirits  to  these  creatures  base." 

1  Philippians. 


xix  KELIGION  305 

Truly  does  the  Psalmist  say  :  "  When  I  con- 
sider thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the 
moon  and  the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained  ; 
What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him  ? 
or  the  son  of  man,  that  thou  visitest  him  ?  " 

But  there  is  comfort  in  Coleridge's  answer 

that 

"  Saints  will  aid,  if  men  will  call, 
For  the  blue  sky  bends  over  all." 

Are  we  not  promised,  "  Ask,  and  it  shall  be 
given  you ;  seek,  and  ye  shall  find ;  knock, 
and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you "  ?* 

And  again:  " Whatsoever  ye  shall  ask  in 
my  name,  that  will  I  do."  "If  ye  abide  in 
me,  and  my  words  abide  in  you,  ye  shall  ask 
what  ye  will,  and  it  shall  be  done  unto  you."  3 
We  are  told  also  that  to  God  "  all  hearts  are 
open,  all  desires  known  "  ;  that  He  despiseth 
not  the  sighing  of  a  contrite  heart,  nor  the 
desires  of  such  as  are  sorrowful ;  that  you 
may  "cast  all  your  cares  upon  him;  for  he 
careth  for  you."  4 

We  must  not  indeed  look  to  aid  from  above 
as  any  excuse  for  our  own  idleness,  but  yet  we 

1  St.  Matthew.        2  St.  John.         3  Ibid.        4  1  Peter. 


306  THE   USE   OF  LIFE  CHAP. 

are  not  only  assured  of  help,  but  told  that 
"  Except  the  Lord  build  the  house,  their  labour 
is  but  lost  that  build  it :  except  the  Lord  keep 
the  city,  the  watchman  waketh  but  in  vain." 
That  "  every  good  gift  and  every  perfect  gift 
is  from  above,  and  cometh  down  from  the 
Father  of  lights,  with  whom  is  no  variable- 
ness, neither  shadow  of  turning."  l 

Christianity  does  not  call  on  us  to  sacrifice 
this  world  in  order  to  secure  the  next.  On 
the  contrary,  "  to  love  that  which  is  com- 
manded and  desire  that  which  is  promised" 
would  add  to  our  happiness  here  as  well  as 
hereafter.  There  is  no  real  difference  between 
worldly  and  heavenly  wisdom.  For  religion 
consecrates  daily  life. 

"  We  need  not  bid,  for  cloistered  cell, 
Our  neighbour  and  our  work  farewell : 
The  trivial  round,  the  common  task, 
May  furnish  all  we  ought  to  ask, — 
Room  to  deny  ourselves,  a  road 
To  bring  us,  daily,  nearer  God." 2 

"  I  pray  not,"  said  Jesus  of  His  disciples, 

"  that  thou  shouldest  take  them  out  of  the 

* 

1  St.  James.  '2  Keble. 


xix  RELIGION  307 

world,  but  that  thou  shouldest  keep  them 
from  the  evil." 

There  are  noble  sentiments  in  Plato  and 
Aristotle,  and  Epictetus,  in  Seneca  and  Mar- 
cus Aurelius,  but  there  is  no  such  Gospel  of 
Love  as  that  in  the  New  Testament. 

Truly  said  Jesus  that  His  was  a  new  re- 
ligion. "  A  new  commandment  I  give  unto 
you,  That  ye  love  one  another ;  as  I  have 
loved  you,  that  ye  also  love  one  another.  By 
this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  dis- 
ciples, if  ye  have  love  one  to  another."  2 

And  again  :  "  These  things  have  I  spoken 
unto  you,  that  my  joy  might  remain  in  you, 
and  that  your  joy  might  be  full.  This  is  my 
commandment,  That  ye  love  one  another,  as  I 
have  loved  you.  Greater  love  hath  no  man 
than  this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his 
friends.  Ye  are  my  friends,  if  ye  do  whatso- 
ever I  command  you.  Henceforth  I  call  you 
not  servants;  for  the  servant  knoweth  not 
what  his  lord  doeth  :  but  I  have  called  you 
friends ;  for  all  things  that  I  have  heard  of 
my  Father  I  have  made  known  unto  you."3 

i  St.  John.  2  St.  John. 


308  THE    USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

The  advent  of  Christianity  was  announced 
as  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth 
peace,  good  will  toward  men." 1 

Jesus  specially  contrasted  it  with  the  teach- 
ing of  Moses,  as  enjoining  repeated  forgive- 
ness, and  love  even  to  enemies. 

"Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said, 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour,  and  hate  thine 
enemy :  but  I  say  unto  you,  Love  your  ene- 
mies, bless  them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to 
them  that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  which 
despitefully  use  you,  and  persecute  you ;  that 
ye  may  be  the  children  of  your  Father  which 
is  in  heaven:  for  he  maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on 
the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on 
the  just  and  on  the  unjust.  For  if  ye  love 
them  which  love  you,  what  reward  have  ye  ? 
do  not  even  the  publicans  the  same  ?  And 
if  ye  salute  your  brethren  only,  what  do  ye 
more  than  others  ?  do  not  even  the  publicans 
so?  Be  ye  therefore  perfect,  even  as  your 
Father  which  is  in  heaven  is  perfect."2 

We  must  expect  trouble  and  sorrow  and 
anxiety,  but  we  may  "  glory  in  tribulations 

1  St.  Luke.  '2  St.  Matthew. 


xix  RELIGION  309 

also  :  knowing  that  tribulation  worketh  pa- 
tience ;  and  patience,  experience ;  and  experi- 
ence, hope."  *  And  we  are  assured  that  "the 
sufferings  of  this  present  time  are  not  worthy 
to  be  compared  with  the  glory  which  shall  be 
revealed  in  us:"2  that  "eye  hath  not  seen, 
nor  ear  heard,  neither  have  entered  into  the 
heart  of  man,  the  things  which  God  hath  pre- 
pared for  them  that  love  him."  3 

"  In  the  place  of  all  other  delights,"  says 
Epictetus,  "  substitute  this,  that  of  being  con- 
scious that  you  are  obeying  God ;  and  that, 
not  in  word  but  in  deed  you  are  performing 
the  acts  of  a  wise  and  good  man."  And  yet 
how  little  men  will  do  for  their  religion ! 
They  will  "  wrangle  about  it,  dispute  about  it, 
call  names,  worry  their  neighbours  and  burn 
them ;  fight  for  religion,  and  lay  down  their 
lives  for  it ;  indeed  do  anything  but  live  up  to 
it.  Very  few  even  try  to  do  that."  4 

"  For  a  small  payment,"  says  Thomas  a 
Kempis,  "  a  long  journey  will  be  undertaken  ; 
for  everlasting  life  many  will  scarce  once  lift 
a  foot  from  the  ground."  And  in  another 

1  Romans.          2  Ibid.          3  1  Corinthians.  4  Friswell. 


310  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

place :  "  Write,  read,  mourn,  keep  silence, 
pray,  suffer  crosses  manfully  ;  life  everlasting 
is  worthy  of  all  these,  yea,  and  of  greater 
combats."  And  yet  how  little  is  demanded 
of  us !  "  For  what  doth  the  Lord  require  of 
thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and 
to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ? " 1 

But  even  if  much  more  were  expected  of 
us,  if  great  sacrifices  were  demanded,  if  we 
were  called  on  to  give  up  everything  in  this 
world,  how  short  life  is  ! 

u  As  shadows  cast  by  cloud  and  sun 
Flit  o'er  the  summer  grass, 
So,  in  thy  sight,  Almighty  One, 
Earth's  generations  pass ; 
And  as  the  years,  an  endless  host, 
Come  swiftly  pressing  on, 
The  brightest  names  that  earth  can  boast 
Just  glisten  and  are  gone."  2 

We  must  of  course  ask  in  a  right  spirit. 

"  Still  will  I  strive  to  be, 
As  if  thou  wast  with  me  : 
Whatever  path  I  take, 
It  shall  be  for  thy  sake." 3 

Such  a  spirit  is  its  own  reward.  For  the 
promises  of  religion  are  not  confined  to  the 

1  Micah.  *  Bryant.  3  Thoreau. 


XIX 


RELIGION  311 


next  world.  They  begin  here,  now,  and  at 
once.  Each  one  of  us  possesses  a  well  of 
living  water  in  his  own  soul,  if  he  will  only 
keep  it  pure  — 

"  Some  feelings  are  to  mortals  given 
With  less  of  earth  in  them  than  heaven."  1 

Cicero  very  truly  says :  "  If  it  be  true  that 
no  one  except  a  good  man  is  happy,  and  that 
all  good  men  are  happy,  then  what  deserves 
to  be  cultivated  more  than  philosophy,  or 
what  is  more  divine  than  virtue  ?  " 

It  seems  difficult  to  believe,  though  it  is 
no  doubt  substantially  true,  that  men  are  not 
tempted  beyond  endurance,  but  that  "  God  is 
faithful,  who  will  not  suffer  you  to  be  tempted 
above  that  you  are  able  ;  but  will  with  the 
temptation  also  make  a  way  to  escape,  that 
ye  may  be  able  to  bear  it." 2 

Yet  so  weak  is  man  that  we  are  also  told 
to  "  Watch  and  pray,  that  ye  enter  not  into 
temptation  :  the  spirit  truly  is  willing,  but 
the  flesh  is  weak."  3 

"We  must  aim  at  perfection.  "  Be  ye  per- 
fect, even  as  your  Father  which  is  in  heaven 

1  Scott.  2  Corinthians.  3  gt.  Matthew. 


312  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

is  perfect."  And  the  reward  is  immediate, 
as  well  as  immeasurable.  Most  of  our 
troubles  arise  in  ourselves.  "  Man  disquiet- 
eth  himself  in  a  vain  shadow."  We  can 
most  of  us  say  with  Daniel,  "  The  visions  of 
my  head  troubled  me."  Yet  if  we  would, 
we  might  be  at  peace  :  it  is  our  own  fault  if 
we  are  not.  Religion  promises  us  rest  and 
safety,  peace  of  mind  and  freedom  from  care, 
even  in  this  world.  Heaven  is  not  merely  in 
the  futurity  and  distance :  heaven  is  within 
you. 

If  you  are  tired  and  overworn,  are  you  not 
invited,  "Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labour 
and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest  "  ? l  "  Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled  : 
ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in  me."  2  To 
be  distressed  by  doubt  is  to  be  wanting  in 
faith. 

We  have  been  told  that  we  have  no  real 
cause  for  fear  :  "  For  though  I  walk  through 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear 
no  evil :  for  thou  art  with  me ;  thy  rod  and 
thy  staff  comfort  me."  Nor  for  anxiety. 

i  St.  Matthew.  2  St.  John. 


xix  RELIGION  313 

"  Behold  the  fowls  of  the  air :  for  they  sow 
not,  neither  do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into 
barns;  }^et  your  heavenly  Father  feedeth 
them.  Are  ye  not  much  better  than  they  ? 
.  .  .  And  why  take  ye  thought  for  raiment? 
Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they 
grow :  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin : 
and  yet  I  say  unto  you,  That  even  Solomon 
in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of 
these.  Wherefore,  if  God  so  clothe  the  grass 
of  the  field,  which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is 
cast  into  the  oven,  shall  he  not  much  more 
clothe  you,  0  ye  of  little  faith  ?"  l 

"  Seek  not  ye  what  ye  shall  eat,  or  what  ye 
shall  drink.  .  .  .  For  all  these  things  do  the 
nations  of  the  world  seek  after  :  and  your 
Father  knoweth  that  ye  have  need  of  these 
things.  But  seek  ye  the  kingdom  of  God ; 
and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto 
you."2 

The  same  lesson  is  inculcated,  the  same 
promises  are  made,  over  and  over  again. 
"Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon 
earth,  where  moth  and  rust  doth  corrupt. 

1  St.  Matthew.  2  St.  Luke. 


314  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP. 

and  where  thieves  break  through  and  steal : 
but  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures  in  heaven, 
where  neither  moth  nor  rust  doth  corrupt, 
and  where  thieves  do  not  break  through  nor 
steal :  for  where  your  treasure  is,  there  will 
your  heart  be  also."  And  again:  "If 
riches  increase,  set  not  your  heart  upon 
them."  Riches,  in  fact,  and  not  poverty,  are 
a  real  cause  for  some  anxiety.  "  How  hard  is 
it  for  them  that  trust  in  riches  to  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

Those  to  whom  Heaven  is  promised  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  are  the  merciful,  the 
meek,  the  peacemakers,  the  pure  in  heart. 

We  are  told  not  to  fear  God :  that  He  is 
our  Father,  and  perfect  love  casteth  out 
fear. 

We  need  not  fear  man.  "  In  God  have  I 
put  my  trust ;  I  will  not  be  afraid  what  man 
can  do  unto  me." 

Indeed  nothing  will  injure  us.  "  All  things 
work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
God."2 

We  are  assured   that   throughout   all   the 

1  Psalms.  2  St.  Paul. 


XIX 


RELIGION  315 


troubles  and  anxieties  and  difficulties  of  life, 
"  the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all  under- 
standing, shall  keep  your  hearts  and  minds 
in  the  knowledge  and  love  of  God,"  and  the 
blessing  of  God  will  be  with  you  and  remain 
with  you  always. 

And  these  promises  are  made  to  us  all. 
Not  merely  to  the  rich,  and  great,  and  clever, 
and  learned,  but  to  us  all,  for  "  God  is  no  re- 
specter of  persons." 1 

"  Suffer  little  children  to  come  unto  me, 
and  forbid  them  not ;  for  of  such  is  the  king- 
dom of  heaven."*2 

We  alone  can  deprive  ourselves  of  these 
advantages. 

"  For  I  am  persuaded,  that  neither  death, 
nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor 
powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to 
come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other 
creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us  from 
the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord."  3 

Thus,  and  thus  only,  will  life  be  bright, 
peaceful,  and  happy. 

1  Romans.  ~  St.  Mark.  3  Romans. 


316  THE   USE   OF   LIFE  CHAP,  xix 

"Keep  innocency,  and  take  heed  unto  the  thing  that 

is  right, 
For  this  alone  shall  bring  a  man  peace  at  the  last." 

And  so  may  you  hope  'to  be  among  those 
"  whose  names  are  written  in  the  Book  of 
Life." 

So  may  you  hope  to  be  happy  whatever 
your  lot  in  life  may  be,  and  wherever  it  is 
cast,  for 

"  All  places  that  the  eye  of  Heaven  visits 
Are  to  the  wise  man  ports  and  happy  havens." 

Be  good,  in  the  noble  words  of  Kingsley  — 

"  And  let  who  will  be  clever, 

Do  noble  things  —  not  dream  them  all  day  long, 
And  so  make  Life,  Death,  and  the  vast  forever 
One  grand,  sweet  song." 


THE   END 


Macmillan  &  Co.'s  Publications. 


THE 

BEAUTIES  OF  NATURE 

AND  THE  WONDERS  OF  THE  WORLD 
WE   LIVE   IN. 

By  The  Right  Hon.  Sir  JOHN  LUBBOCK,  Bart.,  M.P., 
F.R.S.,  D.C.L.,  LL.D. 

Cloth,  gilt  top.    12mo.    $1.50. 


"  We  know  of  none  other  better  fitted  to  present  '  the  beauties  of  nature  and 
the  wonders  of  the  world  we  live  in,'  to  the  popular  understanding  and  appreci- 
ation than  Sir  John  Lubbock,  who  is  at  once  a  master  of  his  chosen  topic  and  of 
a  diction  unsurpassed  for  clearness  and  simplicity  of  statement.  It  is  a  volume 
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authors  they  are  intolerably  dull  to  the  general  reader  and  especially  to  children. 
Sir  John  Lubbock  makes  his  theme  as  entrancing  as  a  novel.  .  .  .  The  book 
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Arena. 

"  We  have  here  a  rich  store  of  information  told  in  the  charming  style  for 
which  the  distinguished  author  is  famous.  It  is  suited  alike  to  the  scientific  and 
the  unscientific  reader.  The  wonders  of  animal,  especially  of  insect,  life,  of 
plant  life,  of  woods  and  fields,  of  mountains,  of  rivers,  of  lakes,  of  the  sea  and 
of  the  starry  heavens,  are  here  delightfully  described,  and  they  are  marvellous 
indeed.  ...  It  is  a  good  book  to  kindle  in  the  reader  a  love  of  nature.  .  .  . 
There  is  not  a  dry  or  dull  page  in  the  book."  —  The  Western  Recorder. 

"  We  find  nothing  to  criticise  and  everything  to  enjoy.  .  .  .  The  unpreten- 
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suggestive  in  profound  thought,  and  so  clear  and  forcible  in  style  that  man  or 
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MACMILLAN   &  CO., 

66  FIFTH    AVENUE,  NEW  YORK. 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR. 


The  Pleasures  of  Life. 

i6mo.     Cloth.     $1.25. 
EIGH  TY-FO  UR  TH    THO  US  AND. 

ALSO  SEPARATELY:     Part  I.,  paper,  25  cents;   cloth,  50  cents. 
Part  II.,  paper,  35  cents;    cloth,  60  cents. 


PART    I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  DUTY  OF  HAPPINESS. 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE  HAPPINESS  OF  DUTY. 

CHAPTER  III. 

A  SONG  OF  BOOKS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CHOICE  OF  BOOKS. 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  BLESSING  OF  FRIENDS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  VALUE  OF  TIME. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PLEASURES  OF  TRAVEL. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  PLEASURES  OF  HOME. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

SCIENCE. 

CHAPTER  X. 

EDUCATION. 


PART    II. 


CHAPTER  I. 
AMBITION. 

CHAPTER  II. 
WEALTH. 

CHAPTER   III. 

HEALTH. 
CHAPTER  IV. 

LOVE. 
CHAPTER  V. 

ART. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

POETRY. 


CHAPTER 

THE  DESTINY 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Music. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  BEAUTIES  OF  NATURE. 

CHAPTER   IX. 

THE  TROUBLES  OF  LIFE. 

CHAPTER   X. 

LABOUR  AND  REST. 

CHAPTER  XI.       ' 

RELIGION. 

CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  HOPE  OF  PROGRESS. 

XIII. 

OF  MAN. 


MACMILLAN   &   CO, 

112   FOURTH   AVENUE,    NEW  YORK 

i 


ROMANCE 


OF 


THE    INSECT   WORLD 

By  L.  N.  BADENOCH. 

With  Illustrations  by  Margaret  Badenoch  and  Others. 


i2mo,  Cloth,  $1.25. 


"  The  volume  is  fascinating  from  beginning  to  end,  and  there  are 
many  hints  to  be  found  in  the  wisdom  and  thrift  shown  by  these  small- 
est animal  creatures."  —  Boston  Times. 

"  A  charming  book  to  read,  an  interesting  one  to  study,  is  a  little 
volume  of  untechnical  natural  history,  '  Romance  of  the  Insect  World,' 
by  L.  N.  Badenoch.  The  chapter  subjects  are :  The  Metamorphoses 
of  Insects  —  Food  of  Insects  —  Hermit  Homes  —  Social  Homes  —  and 
The  Defences  of  Insects,  or  Protection  as  Derived  from  Color.  .  .  . 
The  author  has  been  able  to  tell  the  interesting  facts  of  the  insect  world 
in  the  simplest  style  and  in  a  remarkably  intelligent  and  lucid  manner. 
And  on  every  page  is  evidence  of  the  thorough  familiarity  of  the  writer 
with  the  life  of  which  he  writes  and  his  sympathy  with  the  subject.  The 
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may  need  an  incentive  to  interest  in  out-door  life  or  the  history  of 
things  around  him."  —  Chicago  Times. 

"Though  not  written  for  children,  this  is  a  delightful  book  for  the 
little  folk.  It  tells  the  wonderful  facts  in  the  lives  of  beetles,  hugs,  butter- 
flies and  flies,  ants  and  spiders,  wasps  and  bees,  and  all  their  kin,  their 
transformations,  their  methods  of  capturing  prey  or  laying  up  food,  their 
care  of  the  young  or  the  feeble  in  the  case  of  those  who  have  this 
instinct,  and  many  other  things  more  marvelous  than,  the  indifferent 
would  suppose  possible.  .  .  .  There  are  few  readers  of  any  age  who  will 
not  feel  its  charm."  —  Evangelist. 


MACMILLAN   &   CO., 

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